This one was the Garden faithful who haven’t seen a win against the Celtics at home since Herb Williams was the coach, for Quentin Richardson and David Lee for having to put up with all trash talk, that pizza guy who famously threw his jersey on the court after a dismal pounding by the Celtics on the road and the rest of New York who can’t stand Beantown having the upper hand over us.
Granted it wasn’t a playoff game and it’s still January, but this win seemed to mean something for all the reasons above and one more….they have a chance to build off of this. It’s the biggest win for D’Antoni’s kids so far, and once again defense was the reason. Even though he looks like he may be on crack, Jared Jeffries long arms created havoc for notoriously good roller skater Rajon Rondo and forced him to shoot 1 for 7 and the team held the Celtics to their 4th lowest point total of the season.
“If we can beat them we can beat anybody” Chandler said after scoring a career high 31 points. In the third quarter he matched the Celtics point for point with 15, his breakout performance as a Knick for sure. Other standouts where David Lee who had 14 and 14 with a few monster dunks and Al Harrington 30 off the bench.
It’s been almost 20 games since the cap room trades, enough time for a team to gel and know who they are. Over the these next four games we will get to see if the win meant anything to them. Are we contenders or lottery pickers? This is the biggest test of the season and will tell us exactly what type of team we have. Stay tuned, with all the trade rumors and Steph madness swirling around the city, things are going to be intense in New York once again.
Posted on January 5th, 2009 by Jimmy Mootzarella
Filed under: Game Report, News, Wilson Chandler
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