Game Notes: Knicks @ Celtics, Game 2

If you looked up "bad timing" in the dictionary, you'd find something about a Blue Rodeo song, the Adrian Peterson who plays RB for the Seahawks (the one who you need to type "other Adrian Peterson" to find on Google), and a picture of me running after a bus in the rain or something.

Very rarely in my life do things line up conveniently for me to indulge in basketball the way I'd like, but with school having ended last week, my bartending gig not starting til next week, and the US government going all Monty Burns on my other line of work, I'm suddenly left with the most free time of the year when I need it the most; the hectic 2011 Playoffs kicked off with the best opening weekend in recent memory, full of upsets, game-winners, and huge performances.

One of the highlights was a highly-contested tilt at the TD Garden, that saw the Celts narrowly escape thanks to Ray Allen, after they spent 3/4 of the game in limbo, almost got the game handed to them by the refs, then had Carmelo finish the job. Tonight's slate of three Game 2s kicks off with their shot at redemption; a chance to sting the Knicks at home and re-assert themselves before traveling to hallowed Madison Square Garden, where playoff excitement is sure to be at a fever pitch. Can it live up to the excitement of Game 1? Let's join EJ, Kenny and Chuck...

- Billups is out, so is the jury on whether (Pretty) Toney Douglas can step up...definitely better defensively against Rondo, but Billups' presence as a floor leader might be missed

- EJ: "(D'Antoni) says if it comes to it, they'll continue going to Carmelo"

Charles: "That's why they're gonna have a new coach next year"

EJ: "Well statistically he's the best closer in the NBA over the past decade..."

Charles: (interrupting, looking puzzled) "....is Kobe Bryant dead?"

- A Knicks fan walk smiliing into the Garden with a #3 jersey. I've got 3:1 on Starks, 5:1 on Williams, and 577,000:1 on Marbury

-Tipoff! Rondo sends a bounce pass to some photographers on the first possession.

- Landry Fields bricks two free throws as Steve Kerr notes that he's fallen out of his flow since Anthony's arrival. Coincidence?

- The Knicks are attacking the rim early; JO's holding it down. Donuts still at 10:30

- Fields nets the first goal; oddly enough a fast break layup off a beautiful outlet from Anthony

- Pierce gets mugged under hoop, loses the ball, which falls to JO, who gets swatted by 'Melo; lotta contention early....until Rondo severs through the Knicks' D for 2 easy transition layups

- An open Ray Allen floater from the elbow; might be the safest 2 points in this game...As I type that, Rondo slices his way to another uncontested layup

- Douglas abuses Rondo, but Pierce gets his back with a huge rejection, setting up Rajon on the break. Next play, he gets Douglas back, sending him to the bench with foul #2, and although Rondo at the line's a worst-case scenario, he's a monster right now

- Rondo beats the Knicks back on D for an open layup off the outlet. I think I'm getting delirious and rewind the DVR to double-check. OK, that actually just happened again.

- 3 commercial breaks in; I've yet to see the talking ball or time-travel home video ads. This is awesome news, let's see how long we can keep it up...

- Back to the game; Knicks have Bill Walker on Rondo now, who immediately gets beat for another layup. Boston steals the ball and gives the guy a much needed rest. Enter: Lebron James' quasi-stepfather.

- Glen Davis takes a shot in the face from Melo; you'd think he'd be watching that sort of thing after the last game...

- Still clear on the Unbearable Commercial Watch; also no Craig Sager sightings yet, which is somewhat disheartening; David Aldridge is like 1/250th as hilarious

- Anthony Carter hits an open look...wait a fucking second, Anthony Carter's still in the NBA?...and I thought Shaq was due for the glue factory...

- Melo abuses a double team with the shot clock winding down, banks an and-one from a very tough baseline angle, and gets a two-for-one. Not shabby.

- New York closes the quarter on an 8-0 run, but still trails Rajon Rondo 23-21

- *sigh*....Finally, we get a Talking Ball ad. I don't know if I'm thankful for going a quarter without it or just more annoyed by the delayed inevitable. What I do know is that if you gave me 30 seconds and a hit of salvia, I could come up with a better playoff ad campaign.

- Jeff Green finally gets some burn. I wonder if Danny Ainge ever wondered in the 5 minutes between drafting Green and trading him for Ray Allen: "In 4 years, I'm going to get this guy back for my 5th-best player, and it's going to make my team indisputably worse".

- Rondo's back in the game, going to-to-coast and drawing the harm. Given the way the rest of his team's shot so far in this series it's hard to blame him for not passing.

- Unbearable Commercial Watch: we've still been spared the time-travel ads, which although higher-concept and what some would call poignant, are infinitely stupider, and surprisingly crappily edited. Nobody relates NBA excitement to some crazy old man creeping out a high school kid.

- Jeff Green cleans up an ugly Pierce brick amid 3 blue jerseys; maybe I shouldn't be so hard on him; knotted at 28 with 8 to go...Green promptly picks up his third foul and forces JO to remove himself from his sideline ice chamber (drawing a delay-of-game after 4 minutes) and re-enter. Seriously, he looks like Dr. Freeze.

- Garnett nails a long jumper to bring Boston within one after a long 3 from Melo. The cameras shift to him on the ensuing timeout; on cue he begins screaming and flailing his arms. I love his intensity, but I can't help but be reminded of those corny shows where people fight meter maids.

- 6 Breaks in: still no time-travel, only one talking ball. #Winning

- New York's just murdering the glass; 20-6 over the last 10 minutes after a Stoudemire tip-in

- Rondo gets another layup; Boston leads the fast-break scoring 16-2

- The Knicks get another second chance but can't convert, and trail 38-37 because they're pulling a very convincing Butler Bulldogs impersonation this quarter

- Another talking ball; at least this one isn't a shitty comedian with a crush on Dwight Howard.

- Wide-open layup for Big Baby; I'd love to see Boston's shot chart. If I was Mike D'Antoni my entire halftime speech would consist of showing that diagram with the hoop completely covered by green dots, followed by ours with a bunch of mid-range red dots. And stand there silently.

- Injury update: Amar'e on ice? @KnicksBasketball#FYL

- Despite this unsettling development, Melo's come out huge and led NY to a 45-44 lead at the half with 16/10/4. Rondo's pacing Boston with 18/3/3, but the rest of their team seems out rhythm offensively. The Knicks almost seem to unintentionally making Rondo scorer by default; bodying up everyone else like the Spurs did to Steve Nash in the semis a few years ago and making it harder for him to create. He scored 40-something. In a loss.

- Interesting fact: Charles Barkley does not have a "Round Mound of Rebound", "I'm Not a Role Model", or any other tattoo. Even when school ends, the education continues.

- Amar'e's (man that looks awkward) back spasms are being treated, Knicks trainers are "optimistic" he'll return. No shit.

- Melo's consequently got the green light to start the 3rd. NY wastes his first jumper on a D3.

- Rony Turiaf steps out of bounds trying to save an airball. I've seen some animated gestures from refs, but I've never seen one Harlem Shake along the baseline.

- The Knicks continue to allow Ray Allen to shoot uncontested 17-footers for some reason

- Melo tries a "F*** you, I'm scoring" iso-jumper over Rondo, who gets the ball back and weaves into the D to find Pierce for a trey-ball. 12-3 run to start the quarter,

- Unbearable Commercial Watch: Ok, we're into the third quarter, and still no time travel ads. I'm beginning to think I might realistically get through an NBA game without seeing one of those annoying pieces of crap for the first time all year. #ReallyExcited

- Toney Douglas for 3 to beat the shot clock; he's been decent tonight, you know, aside from letting Rondo beat him like his child.

- Melo bombs another 3, but it's again wasted when Bill Walker shoves Allen under the hoop. T-bomb. Melo looks like someone at airport security just found weed in his bag.

- Stop talking about hockey during a basketball game. I know you're not Canadian, you don't get it, but you're preaching to the wrong fucking choir.

- Uh oh. Boston's moving the ball now and Jesus is looking holy (4-4) from long range. 65-61 Celts. The "optimism" regarding Amare's (I'm limiting one ' per word) back isn't helping much right now.

- Carmelo already has a playoff career high 14 rebounds already, which has come in handy...

- Flo Allen makes her token appearance; apparently she ran the Boston Marathon yesterday!! Good for her!!

- The bomb drops: Amare's not coming back. Down nine with 1:28 in the third. You need to win: Dig deep.

- The Knicks respond by getting stripped on the baseline; Pierce buries a contested turnaround: Dig deeper. side note: Paul Pierce might be the best set shooter since Hal Greer. Kevin Love gets more elevation on his J.

- Melo draws a cheap foul to get to the line and bring NY within 7; 3-4 inches on a 60-foot heave from Walker would've made it 4, but they're still alive heading into the 4th.

- "Sooner or later, we're gonna end up behind bars...But not todayyy (or for another 1-2 subpar sequels)" - Vin Diesel

- Melo stays in Beast Mode, grabbing his 17th board for an and-one putback. #RedeemingYourGame1

- Pierce buries another J to keep Boston up 6, but Melo keeps attacking, drawing the foul for his 10th & 11th free throws, then gets another transition bucket off a KG miss....Soon after he picks up his fourth foul: Kerr "I think at this point, you've gotta leave him out there". You think?

- Me: I haven't seen a time travel ad yet, I'm really happy about it

Roommate: I think they're gradually replacing them with those talking ball ads

Me: (belatedly coming to this realization) I can live with that.

Here's a good one: an hour of watching those ads on repeat, or an hour of sober sex with the most unattractive person you've ever drunkenly hooked up with (and yes, she's staying, and making you cook breakfast). I'd take the sex in a second, and I've made some poor choices in life.

- The Celts swarm Melo; he leads a beauty down the lane to a wide open Turiaf. Melo's hit some difficult shots, but creating offense for Rony Turiaf, that's truly impressive.

- ok, Carmelo Anthony is just in the fucking zone right now. 78-76 Knicks.

- 2nd chance points haunt the Celts again; Pretty Toney nails a 3 to give New York a one point lead. #LosingYourReligion

- Rajon Rondo has 12 fields goals; all of them in the paint. If his team were beating a 6-seed without 2 of their best 3 players right now, I'd call that damn impressive.

- Rondo, on cue, hits a jumper from the top of the key to put Boston up 2. He now has 30; a new playoff career high.

- We get our signature KG hustle play, diving on the floor for a jump ball like he was 10 years younger...too bad the possession results in a Rondo 3 attempt.

- The shot clock's winding down! Nobody's open! Never fear, Carmelo Anthony's here! He's got 42, and all the respect he might've lost from media haters after Game 1. Knicks up 91-88

- After Pierce hits two at the line, the teams trade duds for a few plays until KG gets the feed for a momentous, lead-taking dunk.

- Mikey D takes a timeout, and rightfully so, his last two possessions resulted in shots that were uglier than the girl I'd make myself bang to avoid watching the time travel ads.

- Jared Jeffries (!!!) to the rim, Knicks back up by 1

- KG puts Jeffries in his place, isolating him on the low block and hitting an icy hook.

- New York with the ball, down one. I wonder where the ball's going?

- The Knicks run a nice play to draw Melo's double away from the hoop, but a combination of KG's brilliant defense and Jeffries having no hands leads to a turnover, a timeout, and after they inexplicably allow the Celts to dribble down the clock, the end of the game.

Marv calls the loss "disheartening". Melo looks understandably deflated. What he did tonight was almost transcendent; he kept his team alive in a game they had no business winning with a stunning offensive assault. The Knicks must regroup and hope their injured stars can heal in time for them to shine at the Garden. The Celts escaped another close one: they lead 2-0 but by the slimmest of margins. They'd be wise to stay alert and work on the glass; it almost cost them a game that would've been humbling to lose.

Lakers at Celtics: Live on Basketball Banter

A little while back, the Celtics and Lakers squared off in a much-anticipated rematch of last year's NBA Finals. The Lakers (for the most part) didn't show up, making for an anti-climactic fourth quarter collapse, and a fortunate twist that I got sick and didn't waste two hours doing live game notes. Well, with a re-match less than two weeks later, and LA looking for redemption, it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. They're going through the starters right now, so let's get involved:

- With two treys tonight, Ray Allen will pass Reggie Miller as the NBA's all-time leader.... Who's on the mic for TNT tonight? Yup. This is gonna be fun.

- Kobe comes out looking to get Gasol the ball in the paint on two straight possessions; maybe he learned a lesson last time out.

- Meanwhile, Allen's been spending a conspicuous amount of time inside the arc, where here's 2/3 early

- Ray's first three.....rims out. The crowd sighs, Reggie can breathe again.

- Bynum tips the ball to himself off a jump ball...no whistle. Good to see the refs bringing their A game to a high-profile national TV game.

- Craig Sager sighting; navy suede with a matching tie over a striped shirt. It's only about a 2 on the Craig Sager Ugly Suit scale, he's been stepping his game up a bit lately.

- LA's working the ball into Bynum regularly and he looks a lot more comfortable then last game, even against Boston's feared front line.

- My buddy Kevin does some quick math and drops the slightly appalling tidbit that the Celtics' rotation have missed 151 games this year, and still have the best record in the East. Wow.

- Allen for 3...aaaaand boom goes the dynamite! The crowd goes nuts, and Ray goes for the record ten seconds later on a broken play and bricks. 15 years in, he's shooting a career high from 3, and is showing little sign of slowing down physically. When you consider that Jason Kidd is currently third in 3's made (seriously) this one might be out of reach for a while.

- Kendrick Perkins thinks he's comfortable off a good feed from Allen and gets humbled by Bynum, winning the inside battle so far.

- Ray gets the feed on a fast break, nobody within 10 feet, lets loose, everyone in the World knows history's about to happen....Iciest record ever. Reggie calls him over on the next dead ball and salutes him, saying it couldn't have happened to a better guy; more than a touch of class, which is fitting towards a guy who might be the classiest NBA player out there. Congrats, Ray.

- Boston's rode Ray's hot hand to a 27-20 lead after the first, and Allen gets his PA moment, complete with a Standing O and (of course) TV time for Ray Allen's Mom.

- The audio's getting cut for a while for my roommates' drinking tunes. We'll be without Reggie's sultry tones for the next hour or so.

- LA's inside assault continues, with Ron Artest (!) muscling his way inside for an and-one.

- Glen Davis counters with his own and-one, and touchdown celebration, though no one was injured by his saliva.

- The Lakers are still only shooting inside the key with Bryant on the bench, although making nothing and trailing by 13 with 10 left in he second....So on the ensuing play, a penetrate-and-kick leads to a Shannon Brown trey.

- Brown gets a little trigger happy and fires a bad three, but gets bailed out by an errant Nate Robinson foul; the kind of play he figured to make more since coming to Boston. The camera pans over to Doc just in time for his head to hit his lap.

- If you thought you'd never see Von Wafer absolutely own Ron Artest defensively on the low block, consider yourself mistaken.

- LA's working the ball inside-out and outside-in, but can't (as Chick Hearn would say) throw a grape in the ocean. Bynum and Gasol are the only ones doing anything offensively.

- Ray Allen's killing it; throwing down a one-hander off a trailing feed from Rondo on a fast break off LA's 54th turnover.

- Kobe's still in Playmaker Mode, slicing through 3 defenders and feeding Gasol, who gets mugged on a dunk. LA's reluctance to back down against Boston's grimey post D is impressive.

- Boston finally coughs the ball up and gives Shannon Brown a chance to make his case for Dunk Contest inclusion.

- Rondo finds himself wide open 2 feet behind the foul line, and second-guesses before throwing up a brick over a crashing Derek Fisher. He who hesitates... (or he who has a suspect jumper..)

- Fisher then weaves into the key for a short floater, doing his best Rondo impersonation to pull LA within 5.

- Pierce beasts a layup inside off a nice Rondo feed to close the half, sending Boston into the break up 53-45. Ray's appropriately leading all scorers with 14. Kobe has....3, while Bynum and Gasol have 24 on 9 of 15.

- Moment of Silence for Jerry Sloan; his resignation has to be the most unforseen and unfortunate development in a season that's been full of them. Sloan going out mid-season like this is like Luke Ridnour winning the Dunk Contest or Greg Oden going a full 82. With the Jazz unraveling and Deron Williams pissed, things weren't working, but it seemed like it;d take far worse to shatter the longest coaching tenure in pro sports, outlasting 154 NBA coaches.

- Right now, I'm listening to crappy indie rock instead of whatever Charles has to say about Ray Allen's historic night and the "photos" of him with Lindsay Lohan being flashed on screen. The boys can't go to the bar soon enough.

- Kobe's in attack mode, slicing into the lane for two easy buckets and feeding Gasol for an open jumper: tie game early in the third.

- Kobe picks up a double-T (travel, technical), but stays in attack mode, sending Ray to the bench with his fourth foul, then leaving Wafer on a nasty turnaround to bring LA within one.

- Bynum Smash! The kid keeps making his presence felt inside, LA has their first lead since the game's first minute, 63-60.

- Paul Pierce gets left open from 18, while boys are trying to find footage of him tossing a Crip sign at Al Horford on YouTube, which he apparently got fined 25 Gs for.

- Speaking of gangs, Pierce is unloading on the Lakers right now, burying another three to put Boston back ahead by one.

- Lamar Odom tips in a Pau miss, then turns around and runs right into him. They butt heads, sending both players stumbling to the bench, Lamar for some cut work. Maybe that'll knock enough sense into him to not do anymore perfume commercials.....TNT then flashes back to the havoc Gasol unleashed on KG's head last weekend, Lamar still got off easy.

- I don't care how lame Just Go With It looks, I really hope it's a hit. As long as crappy romantic comedies are being made, Brooklyn Decker should be in more of them.

- The fourth starts with Lamar banging a trey to put LA up seven, fresh off his stitches and rocking an even more awkward bandage than KG after his Gasol encounter.

- Kobe's on the bench and LA's rolling, up 7 with 10 to play.

- Bynum (predictably) falls asleep on D and lets Perkins roam in for a thunderous dunk to stop the bleeding.

- Ray's peeling more 3's now, but (the feared crunch-time tag team of) Steve Blake and Shannon Brown hook up on a nice backdoor play to keep distance. With the bench mob still riding into the 6th minute, LA's doing everything they didn't do in the Fourth last time around: moving on offense, boxing out, putting the ball in the basket. Boston's reeling and Kobe and Pau are about to come back fresh....

- Odom strips Garnett off an inbound and Bryant comes out in Mamba mode, icing Allen with the same turnaround fadeaway he grilled Wafer with. Clearly feeling the rest he just got, Bryant buries another jumper, strips Pierce, then blows by Allen for a tough layup over Big Baby. For a guy whose knee is "almost bone-on-bone" (just the thought of that makes me cringe) he's doing alright.

- LA's holding court on D, forcing some tough attempts from the best-shooting team in the NBA. They aren't getting the looks they want, as evidenced by a Rondo 18-footer being their first field goal in a couple minutes.

- After a failed Boston fast break, Kobe vacuums Boston's front line under the hoop and serves Gasol the easiest hoop of his career.

- Boston trails by seven with a buck-thirty left...Rajon Rondo at the line. Celtics fans, this isn't looking good.

- Odom with the grand hustle, chases down an offensive board he had no business getting, leading to a Bryant iso, where he abuses Allen again and ices what looks like the dagger - LA up 8 with :48 to go.

- Book it: 92-86 Lakers. So in their last meeting, LA fell apart in the fourth when the supporting cast shat the bed and Kobe tried to take over, forcing a bunch of terrible shots and taking his entire team out of the game. Tonight played out slightly differently to say the least. It was a big game: the culmination of Ray Allen's endless three-point blitzkriegs, and perhaps the turning point of LA's season: they went on the road and beat a team that recently broke them down, toughing out an impressive win against their biggest rival after a string of questionable performances.