You talk trash to a team filled with future HOFers and former champions and this is what you're going to get in most cases. Boston wanted it more, it was pretty clear. J.R buckled under the pressure of having to back up his tough talk. It wasn't just Boston's D. Most of his shots were just plain off with or without someone in his face.
They were double and triple teaming Melo and daring the rest of the team to make buckets. No one was keeping us in the game except Felton and Shump, to some degree. For all this talk of ISO Melo, whenever he passed out of double and triple teams, no one was hitting open looks for the most part. its not like they didn't have time to get off one good shot.
Melo was also off, even when he had a good look after a hot start. If JR had picked up the slack like he usually does I don't believe we would be going back to Boston. Usually one of them has a good night.
Camby played, got a tip in, and an offensive rebound in less than a minute and never played again. Copeland got no time even though the guy has provided some much needed instant offense. I get Woodson sitting him after how nervous he was initially, but putting him in the doghouse over that was overkill.
They kept Kidd from taking even one 3pt shot. Our lack of 3pt production really hurt us.
Not that he would have been a game changer but I wouldn't have minded if White got some minutes for defense and energy alone. The team as a whole played some horrid defense after the fast start, as if the first few minutes was all they needed to put Boston away.
I don't believe our lineup is being exposed because there were some mitigating factors like the JR fiasco not to mention KMart telling everyone to dress in black like a funeral. Something I would expect a rookie to come up with, not someone with Kmart's experience, although Boston might not have got wind of that until after the game. Partly explains why he was without a job for most of the season.
This isn't like the old Knicks shaving their heads in solidarity, its acting like the series was already over. Hard to put a team like Boston away when you believe its a done deal and don't take a veteran squad like Boston seriously.
Woodson also has to be more creative, expand the rotation when the lineups he's putting out there aren't getting it done. J.R should have been benched at some point instead of getting carte blanche again. It wasn't just his having an off night. If anyone deserved to be in the doghouse that game it was him.
