SU was not surprised to see the Knicks get blown out last night in game 5 in Boston. I was actually surprised that the game was tied at half time. The first half had a nice flow to it and some very good shooting. In the 3rd quarter, the refs, for whatever reason and SU is not an NBA conspiracy guy, decided that all of the physical play allowed in the first half had to be called. The Celtics shot 18 foul shots in the 3rd quarter and Jalen Brunson actually picked up 5 fouls in just the 3rd quarter. He averaged 1.9 fouls per game this season. Some were clear fouls and some were of the touch variety. I have never seen a player get 5 fouls in a quarter. Ever.

For SU, the game slowed to a crawl and became unwatchable. There are clearly plays that are phyical with no call. But basically, if you drive to the basket, you are going to get the call unless of course you Karl Anthony Towns who gets no calls on his drives to the basket. In any game. Somehow if you are 7-feet and mobile, it’s OK to bump you and body up to cause contact. Bottom line: the refs reward the aggressors, and usually the home team are the aggressors. To the Knicks’ credit, they don’t make excuses about the refs. Their defense last night on the 3’s was pretty awful and KAT continues to pick up silly fouls on the perimeter.

I know SU is old school but back in the day, players would fight over the screens on top to stay with their man. Today, they are happy to switch all the time and it seems that on every possession, KAT is on either Brown or White in a clear out.

SU says this game was lost in the 3rd quarter when Thibodeau refused to sub for the first 9 minutes as the lead blossomed to 15 points. Both Mitchell Robinson and Deuce McBride had played well in the first half, and you would have thought the right move was to break the flow and sub them in. Nope. SU has said all year that the loss of DiVincenzo was huge to this team. They are missing someone off the bench.

But, if you were told at the start of this series that the Knicks would be at home for game 6 up 3-2 in the series, you would have signed up for that in a minute. It is amazing as they have trailed for most of the 5 games by double digits. Playoff series are all about adjustments between games, and let’s see what the Knicks come up with for game 6 against the bigger Celtics lineups.

For SU, Brunson has to get others involved in the first quarter. He is dribbling away so many possessions, and even if he scores, others are not in the flow. Bridges and OG were invisible last night. He has to get them going at the start. For the Knicks to win, you need everyone in double figures.

A game 7 in Boston will not be pretty and even though the Knicks play well on the road, it’s too much to ask. It’s all about game 6 then. Even without Tatum, Boston has plenty of firepower but they will live and die by the 3-pointer the rest of this series.

Finally, a special shoutout to Reggie Miller on TNT. Unlistenable. SU finally muted the game in the 3rd quarter and I rarely do that. There must be someone better to call these games.

What do you think Knick fans?