All About the D – Knicks/Celts Preview

Boston has been highly inconsistent this season, and to be expected.  The average age of the opening day starting lineup is 33 and each starter has missed at least 3 games (Rondo and O’neal have missed 10 – and O’neal is washed up as a side point).

Jermaine O’neal was the only legit center in the rotation and he is out with a lagging wrist injury that needs surgery at some point … and he is washed up.  As a result, the Celts have played with a small lineup with KG at center and Brandon Bass at the power forward spot.  This alignment creates a mismatch for the Knicks and really hurts the Celts bench.

Jeremy Lin has been plagued by 2 issues during his time as a starter – 1) turnovers – everyone knows about those, 2) his defense against quick point guards.  There is a reason he wasn’t selected in the draft, he is not super-athletic.  The persona of a new-age NBA point guard is a blazing athletic freak – think Derrick Rose, Rondo, John Wall.  (Oh, and please don’t email me with ‘well Yaros, what about Steve Nash, hasn’t he been halfway decent in his career?’ -  ANSWER: its called potential; teams don’t look for the next Steve Nash because he is viewed as an enigma.  Of course he’s great (except on D because he lacks the athleticism to play D), but he is 1-of-a-kind, not your typical point guard prospect.  BOTTOM LINE: if a team is looking for a point guard in the late first/second round of the draft, the team always takes the quick, athletic guy (see Avery Bradley, Boston’s backup PG, as an example.  He was drafted #19 in the Lin Non-draft (2010)).

Lin will have a really difficult time if Coach Mike has him defend Rajon Rondo, because he can’t keep with him.  Could the Knicks have Lin give Rondo lots of space at the top of the key, constantly go under picks on the pick-n-roll and simply make Rondo shoot his way to a Boston victory – something he probably can’t do?  The Knicks will likely do that; however, giving Rondo so much space will allow him to distribute the ball very easily as his line of sight will not be impaired.  Alternatively, the Knicks should have Shumpert guard Rondo down the stretch because Shumpert can match the athleticism (almost) and guarding Ray Allen doesn’t take all that much athleticism – just get in his grill!.

So there is idea #1, have Shumpert guard Rondo down the stretch with Lin on Ray Allen.

Here is where things get tricky, how do the Knicks guard Paul Pierce?

In a word, Coach Mike needs to pull Melo over at about quarter to 1 this afternoon and demand effort, demand focus and tell Melo to use all his energy on defense (2 reasons: the Knicks will not need his points because of the comparative numbers the benches will produce – see below, AND because this will result is Melo giving 40% of his effort on D, #LazyDefenderAward).  It’s really that simple, Melo can guard Pierce, but he needs to want to. 

Garnett has played well this year and has only missed 3 games thus far.  The Knicks should begin with Tyson Chandler on Garnett and I expect Jared Jeffries to get some minutes this afternoon in an effort to piss off Garnett.  Jeffries is an annoying defender and should help today.

 If Amare actually tries to box out Brandon Bass, that will limit Bass’ productivity.

Lastly, the bench should really help the Knicks today.  The Celtics are very short and, as discussed in the 2^nd half preview, the Knicks have tremendous depth.  Outscoring the Celtics bench by 15 is a reasonable goal and necessary to secure a Knicks victory.

Both games have come down to the wire between these teams this year.  Both teams have won by a single basket at home.  This game will come down to big shots in the last 3 minutes of the game.  Limiting Pierce and Allen and forcing Rondo to create against a long, athletic defender (Shumpert) should give the Knicks the edge when it counts.