Game 3 of the first round playoff series between the Knicks and Boston Celtics, the first playoff game at MSG in seven years, may have left a particularly bad taste in everyone's mouth. But this strange iteration of the Knicks already proved in the first two games of the series that when not bogged down with injuries, they can compete for real. This afternoon, they just want to make sure they don't get swept at home: "The most important thing is just how much pride we got. I don't want to get swept. We don't want to get swept, so we gotta go out there and leave it all out there on the court, see what happens. If we got to make every hustle play, foul some guys, knock somebody out, do whatever we got to do to prevent a sweep. I've been swept before. It's a sad thing," Carmelo Anthony told reporters yesterday.
Unfortunately, it's looking increasingly likely that Carmelo will only have the likes of Jared Jeffries and Toney Douglas in the endeavor: Chauncey Billups is definitely out, and after he was "below 50 percent" in Game 3, Amare Stoudemire thinks it might be best for him to sit out Game 4, as to not strain his back anymore. He expressed his disappointment to reporters about being hobbled:
What makes it frustrating is that after Game 1, we had a great chance to win the series.We feel we had a great chance to win that game, and I was totally ready to go, to dominate for the rest of the series. I was ready to dominate. I was so ready to dominate, in warm-ups, I got myself going and touched the backboard with my left hand and dunked with the right and felt something pull in my back. The diagnosis is three to four weeks to come back, but we had a game in three days. I said whatever it takes to have me ready for Game 3.
Will Leitch underscored just how bad Game 3 was, and the change in anticipation for today: "The Knicks came into [Game 3] with a fanbase that was begging for them to light the house up. Sunday? On Sunday, they come in just hoping someone will still be watching. It was a night that made you feel like Isiah was still in charge. It was a night that reminded you that, even with Carmelo and Amar'e and the new alchemy, it's still the Knicks. And they have a long, long way to go." As deflating a loss as it was, ESPN's Chris Sheridan says it could be a distant memory by next year: "One year from now, this debacle could very well be a piece of history that will be forgotten by more people than remember it."
Because Stoudemire and most Knicks fans understand the team is in flux—still putting the pieces together and gelling as a unit—and didn't expect them to dominate this season. Stoudemire is optimistic about the future, and building off of this season: "I think the fans of New York understand that we have a chance to do something special here now...As a team, the energy around us is a winning mentality now. And so that's what you have to build on, is the winning mentality knowing that the franchise is now a winning franchise and we're looking to build. When I said the Knicks were back, it's definitely a true statement."
