BART HUBBUCH was at Knicks practice today as they prepared for their big showdown in Boston Thursday night. Hubbuch filed this blog report from his trusty iphone.
Funny what a couple of wins will do for a team’s confidence.
As if forgetting they were a 2-9 club just six days ago, the Knicks were in a feisty mood after practice this morning when asked about tomorrow night’s trip to Boston. Quentin Richardson got things started by all but mocking the 11-2 Celtics, which didn’t seem too smart considering the C’s blasted them by 40 up there in the preseason and have been by far the East’s best team this year.
But Richardson wouldn’t be denied, stating flatly that the Celtics are basically a three-man team with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Isiah Thomas didn’t disagree, saying the Celtics have always lacked depth even going back to their 1980s heyday. Thomas also reiterated the deep-seated hatred he has for all things Celtic that goes back to his playing days, saying he doesn’t have a single piece of green fabric in his entire wardrobe.
Who says the Knicks-Celtics rivalry is dead?
To be fair, Thomas’ comments were made with a mischievous grin. But Richardson’s bulletin-board material was misguided — wins over a terrible Bulls team and a Jazz squad coming off a game the night before in Detroit don’t mean the Knicks have arrived by any stretch of the imagination. So for him to give the Celtics further ammunition, especially when they’re already coming off a road loss to the Cavs in which Boston was hosed late in the game by several home-crowd calls, didn’t make any sense.
Then again, nobody has ever accused these Knicks of being the brightest bunch around. We’ll see tomorrow night if the Celtics were paying attention.