Madison Square Garden Massacre

The number of critics providing any skepticism regarding the Celtics’ performances over the first two games of the Knicks’ playoff series has now been eliminated entirely.  Boston just placed an old-fashioned beat-down on the New York Knicks’ home court and put them in a choke hold for the remainder of this series.

No team has ever rebounded from a 0-3 deficit and Friday’s performance by the Knicks did not provide any optimism going forward for this dejected franchise and their fans.  The defensive team effort by the Celtics was phenomenal from the outset and New York struggled to gain any type of consistent offensive flow throughout the entire game.

Carmello Anthony, who exploded for 42 points in Game 2, shot a miserable 25% from the field and he and Stoudemire combined to go 6-24 and only scored 22 points.  This was not the type of production the Knicks could afford to survive, especially with starting point guard, Chauncey Billups, missing his second consecutive game with a lingering, left-knee injury.

An ailing Stoudemire did not provide any positive contribution and, with he and Billups likely questionable again for Game 4, the possibility for a Boston sweep looks like the most probable outcome.  Even if the Knicks were to somehow scrape together a win in New York on Sunday, the road would seem too tough to string together two straight wins to stay alive, especially with Game 5 being played in Boston.

Paul Pierce continued his assault on the Knicks in Madison Square Garden, scoring 38 points, and Ray Allen hosted a three-point clinic, nailing eight threes and tallying 32 points.  Not to be forgotten, Rajon Rondo had his way with New York defenders for the second straight game.  He recorded an amazing triple doble in which he scored 15 points, grabbed 11 boards and registered 20 assists.  The assist total was a Boston playoff record and his performance helped fuel a smoothly efficient, offensive attack for the C’s.

Look for the Celtics to grant New York’s pleas for mercy and finish the Knicks off in a four-game sweep this Sunday on ABC.  This was a great win for Boston and should go a long way in building their team confidence for the next series, which appears that they will be facing the Miami Heat, who also have a commanding 3-0 lead in their series with the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers.   It should be a highly intense series and a great matchup that should provide a lot more fireworks than the two teams’ first-round series.