A matinee Game Three in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks on Saturday gifted those of us in Europe with an evening treat to enjoy.
Madison Square Garden was absolutely jumping, packed with fans, former players and the odd celebrity or 10. Among them was Geordie songsmith Sting, looking slightly out of place in his Knicks cap in his quintessential ‘Englishman in New York’ role.
There were no aliens involved in this production, Sting or otherwise. Instead the Celtics’ three-point shooters that had been abducted and replaced by doppelgangers before Games One and Two of the series came back to earth.
As did the New York Knicks.
The Boston Celtics secured their first win of the series 115-93. It was so comprehensive that even the most optimistic Knicks fan would have struggled to lean too far on their team’s heroic comebacks in the first two games of the series. The Celtics led 71-46 at half-time and there was no coming back for the home team.
The obvious storyline to write would be a tale of Joe Muzzalla and his team being vindicated in blocking out the noise and sticking with their three-point heavy approach. There is some truth to that, with the Celtics blowing away their rivals by going 20-from-40 from the arc, including 5-6 by Jayson Tatum and 5-10 by Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard; however, there was never any doubt that Boston would stick to their guns.
As Sting put it, “Be yourself no matter what they say”.
When you throw away a commanding lead in Game One whilst going 15 for 60 on 3-pointers, you’re going to get criticised. That doesn’t mean they had to abandon their strength. When their Plan A clicks it is devastating, as evidenced by their 18th Championship banner hanging from the rafters, but sometimes you do need to go to Plan B and mix things up on a night when – for whatever reason – the ball simply isn’t dropping for them.
Plan B wasn’t needed on Saturday and whilst there is no need for panic among the Knicks, it’s hard not to feel like Game Four at MSG on Monday night is going to be massive.
They were on top of the world when leaving Boston with a 2-0 series lead. The feeling will be completely different if they head back there having dropped the next two at home. Although the series would still be level at 2-2, it won’t feel that way for Tom Thibodeau’s team.
“Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can”, Sting likes to sing. Maybe he should avoid Game Four just in case his attendance brought the home team bad luck?
From Deep UK 
Leave a comment