Post by kevinfelixlee on Apr 25, 2011 1:45:40 GMT -5
If New York is no longer in the NBA playoffs, do the NBA playoffs still make a sound?
That's the critical question confronting men's professional basketball as it recovers from the embarrassing playoff sweep of the reborn, attention-addicted New York Knicks by the rumply, out-of-date Boston Celtics.
OK, at least that's the critical question being asked here. If you don't reside in this throbbing, self-involved center of the universe¡ªpreferring rs gold instead to live in a place with open space and monthly parking that costs less than a plane ticket to the Maldives¡ªyou may not have followed every bounce of New York's 2010-11 basketball recovery.
After years of dormancy and disaster¡ªa string of losing campaigns; front-office messes; and one season in which the team simply quit in mid-December and enrolled in art school¡ªthe Knicks made the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. They were perhaps the noisiest 42-40 basketball team runescape money in history, with a regular season broken into two halves: the part with one superstar and a collection of overachieving role players, and the part with two superstars, a wizened veteran and a bag of spare parts found under the seat of a rental car.
The stars, of course, were Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony¡ªa young, energetic tandem that give New York its most lively team since the '90s madness of Patrick Ewing and his rugged friends. Glamour¡ªor at least the edgier, Chlo? Sevigny-next-to-Pauly D version of it¡ªreturned to the Madison Square Garden hardwood after a prolonged absence. Carmelo appeared on Saturday Night Live. Amar'e vamped in Vogue.
But for the playoffs, Boston stood in the way, and the Celtics are an inexperienced team's nightmare. They're a basketball version of Walter Matthau: saggy, cantankerous, frustrating, impossible. During the regular season, the Celtics like to roam around the yard in an unwashed bathrobe, muttering at the birds and threatening to move to Vero Beach. But they sharpen for the postseason, as if covered in magic runescape items liniment. Despite the absence of 88-year-old center Shaquille O'Neal, Boston stole Games 1 and 2 with icy last-second shots, and they steamrolled over New York at the Garden in a Friday night laugher.
It was an 0-3 hole before New York had even ordered its appetizers. Worse, there were injuries. Veteran point guard Chauncey Billups¡ªwho was supposed to Yoda the Knicks through the chaos¡ªleft Game 1 with a knee injury and never returned. Stoudemire tweaked his back with a practice dunk before Game 2 and struggled for the rest of the series.
The city treated the losses with predictable restraint. On Sunday, the New York Post's back-page headline read GRIM SWEEPER, with a photo of the cloaked dude and his scythe hovering behind the Knicks bench.
Desperate, the Knicks dragged out all the ghosts for Game 4. Nineties heavyweight Larry Johnson sat courtside, as did '73 championship legend Walt Frazier, dressed in an off-white pinstriped suit that could be described as "Creamsicle Babe Ruth." (For maximum celebrity incongruity, Frazier was placed next to "The Hangover" actor Zach Galifianakis.) Rapper Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys¡ªnow an Ad-vanced 44¡ªstepped out onto the court before pregame team introductions runescape accounts and urged the Garden sellout to keep the faith. "We are not out of this yet!" he howled.
Then the Knicks went out and played one of the most hapless first halves of basketball you will ever see, shooting 23% from the field and stumbling around the court like a squirrel that had a yogurt cup stuck over its head.
The Celtics owned a 55-38 halftime lead, and though they would stretch it to 23 points early in the third quarter, there is a little-known NBA rule that every significant double-digit lead by a visiting club must crumble for some brief hometown excitement. Aided by Anthony (32 points) and some of those disrespected spare parts like backup guard Anthony Carter (11 points), the Knicks closed within four points in the fourth quarter. Suddenly the frenzied superfan Spike Lee was pacing the sideline across the court New York coach Mike D'Antoni, as if directing the Knicks to a dramatic victory.
In the movie, the Knicks win and carry Spike off on their shoulders and down Seventh Avenue. In reality, the unshakable Celtics proved again to be the superior team, surging ahead in the final minutes, guided by the electric 25-year-old guard Rajon Rondo, who plays the Steve Guttenberg part in Boston's "Cocoon" homage.
The Celtics pulled off the grim sweep, winning 101-89. As the buzzer sounded, the remaining fans in the Garden stood on their feet and offered the Knicks an encouraging ovation. It may have sounded more U.S. Open quarterfinal than Game 7, but it represented progress.
"We have a long way to go," Anthony said after. "But we have happy times ahead of us."
The Knicks were back, but now they're gone. In the off-season there will be questions about the contract status of team architect Donnie Walsh, and pushes for better supporting players to join Anthony and Stoudemire. Because this is New York, there will be obnoxious public lusting for other cities' stars like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard, and perhaps a dreamy coach like Phil Jackson.
That is the way things operate here. Spike Lee's already moving on to the Yankees. Enjoy the remainder of the New York-free NBA playoffs, Earth. If you're still having them.