During the entire Knicks vs. Celtics playoffs series, The Campus Socialite (Knicks) will square off against Dueling Couches (Celtics) in a trash talk showdown. We’re taking this rivalry from the courts to the blogs.
The Worlds Most Famous Arena is located in midtown Manhattan on 34th Street and 7th Avenue. Knicks fans have gone 7 years without a playoff birth and 10 without a victory in the league’s second season. It’s been a long road back for us Knick fans, as we struggled through an era where we were left searching for a superstar to come in a save our franchise. You need stars to win in the NBA; it has been proven over the past 20 years. Teams like the Bulls, Rockets, Spurs, Lakers, Celtics, Heat and Pistons each had more than one go-to player. The Knicks struggled to find even the first piece of the puzzle over the past ten years, going through players such as Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Zach Randolph, Antonio McDyess and countless others who just couldn’t fit the bill. We continued to support our team through countless horrendous front office moves and the Isiah Thomas Era, which left our team with a black eye and an embarrassing reputation league-wide. New Yorkers are a lot of things, but quitters we are not. It is in our nature, being from the best city in the world – the financial center, the fashion capital and the city with the most sports teams in the United States – to have a special type of pride, that small cities nationwide could never understand. Our city is bigger than life, and our fans follow suit.
Oh Boston. Boston, Boston, Boston. You guys really better savor this last run of yours. After this playoff run, whenever it is complete, it’s going to be the nineties all over again. Back to irrelevancy. Our “friends” at Dueling Couches are die hard Boston fans. If you read their post, they argue how the Knicks are an irrelevant franchise, and have been since Willis Reed. I am not sure if you remember the nineties, but the Knicks were a top team in the Eastern Conference season after season, while the Celtics were nowhere to be found. To say the Knicks have been irrelevant since Willis Reed is like saying that your beloved Red Sox, yes I am going there, were irrelevant for 100 years, until the Roid Sox finally won a World Series in 04. Meanwhile our Yankees won roughly 25 championships during that time period.
The point is, this is our rebuilding year, and during our rebuilding year we outplayed the Celtics in game 1. I know we didn’t win, and we haven’t learned to close games yet, but we are not expected to win this series, and if we were to win, it would be a tremendous upset. But with the assets we have acquired this season, Amare Stoudamire and Carmelo Anthony, our next 6 years will put us back on top of the eastern conference. Meanwhile Kevin Garnet, Pail Piece, and Ray Allen will all start heading towards retirement, playing in China, or playing for the Heat so they can chase titles for no money.
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Let’s talk about game 1 for a second. I understand that home court reffing is unavoidable, but that was ridiculous. Even your beloved Bill Simmons admitted the call was ridiculous. I would not be shocked at all to find out in 5 years, that the ref who made the call against Melo, and then proceeded to ignore the obvious call against Garnett, was involved in a point shaving scandal. It was a grimy way to win a playoff game, however, I won’t use it as an excuse for a loss. We lost because one of the best players in basketball – when you can pretty much score at will, you are automatically in that category – had an absolutely awful game. It happens. That’s the beauty of having another superstar, and leader in Amare Stoudamire. Dude has huge shoulders. Carmelo Anthony is a New Yorker to his core, and he will respond like any New Yorker would after a bad performance. He will come out swinging and show himself to be a true superstar, as he has done time and time again.
Carmelo had a bad game, and trust me, I know it was at the worst possible time, but he will respond as he did all season and will lead the Knicks to a victory in Game 2. If we were able to stick it to the Celtics, not stick it to, dominate the Celtics in game 1 without Melo, we should easily be able to get the victory with him. This series is going to be difficult. Our starting point guard is now injured. Try playing without Rondo, your team would literally not be able to score. But I know the Knicks are here to compete, because Amare is defining his Knick legacy starting now. Patrick Ewing, a relentless warrior whom you can hate all you want, was a legend and a respected leader when all was said and done. One of the last true centers. Carmelo needs to define himself as a playoff-caliber player, starting now. If the Knicks can pull even at 1-1 going back to THE Garden, their wont be a Baaaasten fan on earth who wont fear the thunderous explosion awaiting them in Game 3 on Friday!
Check Out Dueling Couches Boston Celtics Post and Keep Checking Back After Each Game For Our Recaps!
