The Knicks took on the Eastern Conference’s finest in a quiet matinee contest. Boston manages to be an enemy in so many ways. Not only are they the team to beat in the division and the conference, they are the team to beat in the lottery. Yet since the Celtics pick is actually determined by how atrocious the Nets are, somehow the Knicks are getting bent over in two directions.
New York just couldn’t put much together this afternnon and the Celtics’ lead just continued to swell as time eroded. Boston’s force and certainty on defense was just much too much for the Knicks to get anything going.