It's been a struggle to follow the bouncing basketball.
At this point in the season, the Knicks have to be worried about the lack of timely rebounds. Their negative body language on the court is an indication of the frustration whenever they work hard on defense and fail to clean up on the boards to close out a possession. Boston was downright antagonistic on Tuesday, grabbing nine offensive caroms.
"That's going to happen some because we do play small," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said afterward. "When we got after it in the last 16 minutes, they didn't hurt us. If we're going to play little, we have to play hard."
On the season, the Knicks rank last in the league when it comes to rebound differential. They are losing the battle by seven boards a game. Zach Randolph has been cleaning up underneath, but none of the other starters have a reputation for rebounding.
There's not much help sitting on the bench outside of David Lee, who's getting more attention this season when the ball goes up. It's possible the situation will improve when Jared Jeffries comes back from a leg injury later this month.
CELTICS 110, KNICKS 101: There was a glimmer of hope with six minutes to play when David Lee capped an 11-2 run and got the Knicks within six points of the defending champions. It was a battle down the stretch, but Paul Pierce proved unyielding.
It was the seventh loss in a row against Boston.
Kevin Garnett was suspended 24 hours earlier and was not in the building. Even so, the Celtics were comfortably in front before the Knicks picked up the intensity and climbed back into the game. That alone was a source of inspiration.
"It's not bad," head coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I see the good stuff. We just got to build on it."
Wilson Chandler had 23 points and seven rebounds for the Knicks. Zach Randolph added 18 points and eight rebounds.
"The main thing is we continued to compete no matter what the score was," guard Chris Duhon said. "And we found ourselves right back in the game."
