Kemba Walker has had many amazing games at Madison Square Garden, going all the way back to his college days at UConn. Tonight looked like the Cardiac Kemba from the college days as he poured in 32 points in the Boston Celtics 118-95 victory over the New York Knicks at MSG. Celtics forward Jaylen Brown chipped in with 19 points, as Jayson Tatum put in 15. For the New York Knicks, who fell to 0-3 on the year, were lead by rookie RJ Barrett who scored 26 points on the night.
My Thoughts
The Boston Celtics picked up their second win of the season, it’s a good thing they won because it would be embarrassing to lose to the New York Knicks….No offense Knicks fans lol…..
Anyway the Knicks did come out firing from the start as they went on a 13-2 run at the beginning of the game. My guess is the Knicks were hungry to get their first win on the year, especially after losing to the Brooklyn Nets last night. But The Celtics fought back in the game and ended up blowing them out in the 4th quarter.
I was a little embarrassed that the Knicks were hanging around with the Celtics for about 3 quarters, but I was glad The Celtics came alive in the 4th quarter and really blew the Knicks out. The New York Knicks have a lot of veteran players on their team, but NO stars. RJ Barrett is impressive and Julius Randle has moment, but they don’t have a star player in New York which will hurt them a lot in the season. But the Knicks are not the worse team in the NBA, they are better than the Hornets, Wizards, and Grizzles, but they still aren’t very good. The Celtics have star players and those star players were too much for the Knicks to handle.
Positives
Kemba shakes off rusty start
Kemba was very rusty these past 2 games, but tonight Kemba looked strong. He finished the game with 32 points and he shot very well from the field. He knocked down a few threes, had some some strong takes, and some nice passes including one no look pass to Gordon Hayward. Hayward missed the dunk, but the pass looked pretty sick. Kemba really shined as it starting to find his groove on this team. He is going to be playing big factor for this team, and the way he plays and the way he fits in on this team shows how much of a true Celtic Kemba Walker will be. I still like this guy way better than Kyrie btw 😉
The Transition offense off of turnovers
The Boston Celtics forced a lot of turnovers tonight as the Knicks had 26 turnovers. The Celtics converted 36 points off of turnovers which was a great thing to see as Celtics fans. The Celtics are a young and quick and can get up and down the floor very fast. The Celtics should continue to this as there is not many teams who like to push the ball after a turnover and it can be a good way to score a lot of points and to extend leads.
Carsen Edwards
Carsen Edwards did a great job tonight for the Celtics for only being a rookie. He had 10 points in 22 minutes. He didn’t shoot fantastically, but it shows a sign of confidence and no nerves. Normally if people are having an off-game, but Edwards kept going and he had a good game off the bench. He is a guy who people should keep an eye on in the season, as we saw him in the preseason pour in 8 3 pointers. He is going to be a good player and a good third string back up.
Negatives
Rebounding
The Boston Celtics didn’t have many negatives tonight, but the rebounding wasn’t very good tonight. The Knicks out rebounded the Celtics 55-45. The Celtics did play without big men Enes Kanter and Daniel Theis tonight, but still the Celtics should’ve done better with rebounding. The Celtics got lucky that the Knicks had a lot of turnovers and The Celtics played a strong 4th quarter. Hopefully when the big men return, it will clean up the rebounding issue.
Final Thoughts
I am just glad the Celtics won the game, completed a good weekend for me. Their next game is Wednesday at TD Garden vs the Milwaukee Bucks. This is a HUGE game for The Celtics as they could give the Bucks their 2nd loss on the year. I will be curious to see who takes on the task against Giannis Antetokounmpo as last year Al Horford guarded him in the playoffs. Now The Celtics don’t have him so it should be interesting. I expect the crowd to be very loud in the Garden.
Quick thing before I go, Marcus Morris said that he was surprised to not get an offer or call from the Celtics
I liked Morris at times, but I was kind of glad that he is not on the team this year. I miss his toughness on the team, but this guy was a selfish player that the Celtics didn’t need anymore. I remember him saying things how it wasn’t fun on being on the team, and how his teammates were very selfish, but he was very selfish himself. There was many times in the game as a Celtic where Morris would not pass the ball and shoot a bad shot and miss it. He just wasn’t a fit for the Celtics anymore and I don’t believe The Celtics could afford him.
I’ll say this right now, the only reason he is on the Knicks is because of the money and he can take. as many shots as he wants because the Knicks will not be very good this year. He will be off to a title contending team next season, mark my words LOL.
Go Celtics!
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