Celtics 3-1 at Knicks 2-2 10/22

[FLCeltsFan]

at

Boston Celtics at New York Knicks
Monday, October 22
7:30 pm Eastern
TV: Comcast SportsNet, MSG, League Pass (DTV 751)
Madison Square Garden


Given the juggling that coaches do it would be hard to post starting lineups for these last few preseason games so I am not even going to attempt it. Instead, I will post rosters and players to watch. I do expect our stars to play in this game and sit out against the Nets but nothing is certain.



Roster:
NO. PLAYER POS. HT. WT. BORN COLLEGE '08 SALARY
20 Ray Allen SG 6-5 205 07/20/75 Connecticut $16,000,000
42 Tony Allen G 6-4 213 01/11/82 Oklahoma State $1,868,141
11 Glen Davis F 6-9 289 01/01/86 LSU $427,163
5 Kevin Garnett F 6-11 253 05/19/76 $23,751,934
50 Eddie House SG 6-1 175 05/14/78 Arizona State $1,500,000
12 Dahntay Jones SG 6-6 210 12/27/80 Duke
23 Jackie Manuel GF 6-5 190 03/29/83 North Carolina
43 Kendrick Perkins C 6-10 280 11/10/84 $4,355,912
34 Paul Pierce GF 6-6 230 10/13/77 Kansas $16,360,094
66 Scot Pollard C 6-11 265 02/12/75 Kansas $770,610
41 James Posey GF 6-8 217 01/13/77 Xavier
0 Leon Powe F 6-8 240 01/22/84 California $687,456
13 Gabe Pruitt G 6-4 170 04/19/86 USC $427,163
9 Rajon Rondo G 6-1 171 02/22/86 Kentucky $1,229,280
44 Brian Scalabrine FC 6-9 235 03/18/78 USC $3,000,000
8 Brandon Wallace F 6-9 203 03/14/85 SC $427,163

Players to Watch
Leon Powe should be a rotation player this season. Good things happen when he is on the court. He has been doing a good job at back up center and this could be a factor if Pollard can't stay healthy.

Questions around this team usually start at the point guard. Rondo, in just his second season is going to be a key to this team's success. So far he has looked up to the task.

Eddie House is going to have to man the back up point guard position. His leadership will be crucial to the succes of the second unit. He has proved to be a very streaking shooter and we will need him to have more "on" nights than "off".

Pruitt has shown some good things so far in limited minutes. He definitely shows promise and how quickly he adapts to the pro game will determine whether he stays with the parent team and can contribute or spends time in the D League.

Like Pruitt, Big Baby has shown good things so far in limited minutes. Like Pruitt, he shows plenty of promise but there are questions about his size and conditioning. He also may benefit from time in the D League. He would have to develop quickly and overtake Powe on the depth chart to see many minutes this season.



Roster

NO. PLAYER POS. HT. WT. BORN COLLEGE '08 SALARY
32 Renaldo Balkman F 6-8 208 07/14/84 South Carolina $1,280,640
21 Wilson Chandler F 6-8 230 05/10/87 DePaul $1,091,640
25 Mardy Collins G 6-6 220 08/04/84 Temple $967,320
11 Jamal Crawford SG 6-5 190 03/20/80 Michigan $7,920,000
34 Eddy Curry C 6-11 285 12/05/82 $8,947,543
13 Jerome James FC 7-1 280 11/17/75 Florida A&M $5,800,000
20 Jared Jeffries GF 6-11 240 11/25/81 Indiana $5,632,200
2 Fred Jones GF 6-2 220 03/11/79 Oregon $3,300,000
1 Jared Jordan G 6-2 187 10/14/84 Marist
42 David Lee F 6-9 249 04/29/83 Florida $990,600
3 Stephon Marbury PG 6-2 205 02/20/77 Georgia Tech $19,012,500
5 Randolph Morris FC 6-11 260 01/02/86 Kentucky $810,000
35 Demetris Nichols F 6-8 216 09/04/84 Syracuse
50 Zach Randolph PF 6-9 251 07/16/81 Michigan State $13,333,333
23 Quentin Richardson GF 6-6 230 04/13/80 DePaul $8,105,500
4 Nate Robinson G 5-9 180 05/31/84 Washington $1,268,160
31 Malik Rose F 6-7 255 11/23/74 Drexel $7,101,250
6 Walker Russell Jr. G 6-0 170 null Western Michigan

Players to Watch
David Lee has been one of the bright spots for NY and is one of the better young players in the league. His continued improvement is crucial for the Knicks to contend.

Marbury has been controversial on and off the court. Can he put all that behind him and be the leader this team needs?

Eddie Curry is a very good center and teamed with Zach Randolph will be one of the scarier duos in the East. But can they put it all together and play as a team?

Crawford has the ability to be a very good player but he tends to be streaky. He will need some consistency to help this team get back to winning.

Jeffries has good size for his position and could be a difference maker for NY but he has been a disappointment so far.

Game Notes:
After the Celtics beat the Knicks by 40 points last week, Isaiah said that his team was intimidated by the Celtics stars and that they were playing against the press rather than the team. If so, that is a good thing and it gives the Celtics a leg up on the competition. They could be a dangerous team to play after being embarrassed in the last game as they will be looking for pay back and it probably won't be the cake walk the last game was. I have a feeling that Doc will play the three stars at least a quarter or two in this game. RA has said that he would rather play than sit and KG and PP sat out the last game. Also I expect Doc to sit them against New Jersey since the Nets stars didn't even travel with the team to Worcester.

[DERRENMATTS]

I want to see the guys bounce back from a disappointing loss against the Philly's. I think our bench guys should have played a lot better than they did, and even without Pierce, KG, and Perk, I thought we had a good chance to beat the 76'ers. PHI is not a very good team. Hopefully, all the guys who had subpar games will comeback and show their stuff.

[birdie]

e should win this, no hesitation

[Deleted]

I want our bench to beat up on the Knick's starting unit. That would be really demoralizing to them. Especially the hype Randolph/Curry front-court was being exploited after the trade.

[fan33]

Sure, I would have liked the outcome of the Jersey game to have been a better showing by the second string + Ray, however I think those stats are the very worst that could be expected from that nights lineup, and I'm glad the experience burned! Great wake up call for all of them, as well as a good look see and real play minutes for those guys, rather than our bigs PP, KG & Perk who as we know would have combined with over 30 points and pulled down more than the 6 boards recorded, for the win...

Not knowing the lineup tonight, I would expect somewhat the same and I hope Ray is given 32 minutes to get his stroke flowing as a tune up, as well as House and Tony & again I think putting up the threes is a great exercise with which to spread the floor and utilize our rebounding strenth durring the season with the Bigs starting...

IMHO

[FLCeltsFan]

I AM SO MAD. They are blacking out the Celtics coverage on CSN and I have to suffer through watching the game with the Knicks announcers on League Pass. This is awful. The Knicks announcers are my LEAST favorite of all the teams in the league. This is the first one they blacked out.

[birdie]

when the game starts it's 7:37

[FLCeltsFan]

KG, PP, Scal, Rondo and RA are starting for the Celtics. I wonder why no Perk. I hope he isn't hurt. I didn't hear anything about it. But now I am stuck with the NY feed and of course they wouldn't tell me!!!!

[FLCeltsFan]

They are announcing the starting linups now so it shouldn't be long until it starts. The NY crowd booed Isaiah when he was announced.

KG got the biggest applause of all, including Knicks players

[FLCeltsFan]

KG playing center and is jumping against Curry. KG easily wins the tip. Celtics turn it over on a bad pass out of bounds. Celtics with a steal. Alley oop inside to Garnett for 2. Curry misses a turnaround around Garnett. Scal hits a 3. Randolph misses and PP tips the rebound out to RA. RA easily gets down the lane to the hoop and lays it in. Richardson hits a 3 from the corner. Rondo drives the lane and kicks it out to an open PP who misses the jumper. Marbury takes it to the hoop and is fouled by Scal. Randolph hits in the lane. Scal misses a jumper. Knicks rebound. Marbury takes it to the hoop and lays it in. Scal misses a long jumper. RA tracks down the rebound and puts it in off the glass. KG with a steal. RA hits a 3. Marbury is fouled going to the basket. I HATE THESE ANNOUNCERS!! Marbury hits both FTS. Rondo's shot is blocked and KG gets the ball and passes out to Scal who misses another jumper. Knicks with a layup. Curry misses a layup but goes back up for the tip in. Scal and Curry get tangled up and face off. Curry called for a foul on KG. He hits both FTs. Marbury brings it up against light pressure from Rondo. Richardson misses and Rondo grabs the rebound in traffic. PP has his shot blocked out of bounds. Celtics inbound with 17 on the SC. PP misses off the dribble. KG misses the put back. It looked like Curry fouled him but no call. Time out with 5:59 left in the first and Celtics up 14-13

[FLCeltsFan]

Knicks inbound. Marbury misses a jumper. Reach in foul on the Knicks. Celtics inbound on the side. PP hits a jumper. Powe is in for Scal. Crawford hits a 3 as the SC winds down. KG hits a jumper on the baseline. Marbury hits a jumper off the dribble. PP misses an open 3. Lee rebounds. Powe called for a loose ball foul. Randolph misses and Lee rebounds and gets the putback. Pierce with a bounce pass to Powe who puts it in off the glass. Marbury gets inside and lays it in. PP drives down the lane and Randolph picks off his pass. Lee misses on the baseline. RA tracks down the rebound. Lee called for a blocking foul. Time out with 2:38 left in the first and NY up 22-20

[FLCeltsFan]

RA hits both FTs. Randolph with a left hander in the lane. PP hits a jumper from the top of the key. Game tied at 24. Garnett with a block on Marbury's shot but he is called for a foul. Marbury misses the first and hits the second FT. Knicks with pressure in the back court as House brings it up. Garnett with a nice feed inside to Powe who couldn't finish. House misses a 3. Powe gets the rebound and lays it in and draws the foul. He misses the FT and Lee rebounds. Jeffries misses and KG rebounds. PP drives into the lane and is fouled. He hits both FTs. Robinson hits an open jumper from the top of the key. Powe gets the ball inside but can't finish. Knicks rebound and Lee gets a layup. Knicks with full court pressure. House gets it across. PP misses a jumper at the buzzer. Score at the end of 1 is Knicks 29 and Celtics 28

[FLCeltsFan]

Knicks inbound to start the second. Robinson hits a runner in the lane. Lee with a steal and Robinson gets a layup on the other end of the break. RA misses a fall away in the lane. Tony, Posey, RA, House, Powe on the floor for Boston. Marbury is fouled and hits both FTs. Powe's shot is blocked by Rose and Jeffries gets a layup. Time out with Knicks up 39-28 and 9:51 left in the second

[FLCeltsFan]

Foul on the Knicks. 20 second time out. Knicks still up 38-29. Celtics inbound on the side. Rondo misses a jumper. Knicks rebound. Robinson banks one in. Rondo is fouled as he drives the lane. Scal, Rondo, Posey, Tony, and RA in the game. Rondo hits both FTs. Jeffries banks one in. Knicks deflect the ball out of bounds. Celtics inbound on the baseline with 10 on the ST. RA misses a 3 at the SC. Knicks rebound. Robinson misses a 3 and Rondo rebounds. Celtics turn it over. Lee gets the ball inside and lays it in. Rondo with a feed to Posey inside who lays it in. Rose misses and Posey rebounds. Celtics lose the ball out of bounds. Curry misses a hook shot and Posey rebounds. Posey misses a runner and Knicks rebound. Jeffries misses and Curry rebounds and is fouled. Knicks inbound on the side. Knicks turn it over as Robinson loses it out of bounds. KG and PP are back in with RA, Rondo and Posey. Celtics inbound on the baseline. Posey misses from the corner and Knicks rebound. Curry powers to the basket for a layup. Garnett gets to the basket for a monster dunk. Curry called for a 3 second violation. Time out with Knicks up 47-34 and 5:05 left in the half

[FLCeltsFan]

Celtics inbound and RA called for an offensive foul as Robinson takes the charge. KG called for his second foul. Celtics trap Crawford in the corner and he calls time out with 4:31 left in the half and Knicks up 47-34