Preview: Boston Celtics Look to Complete Perfect Home Stand

The Boston Celtics will be aiming for their 13th straight win at home on Friday night

The Boston Celtics will be welcoming the in-division rival New York Knicks to TD Garden on Friday night. Boston is coming off a blowout win over the Portland Trail Blazers a couple of nights ago, earning their fourth straight win.

The Knicks, on the other hand, have been on a downward spiral over the past couple of months after competing for a playoff spot for much of the first half of the season. Over their past 18 games, they are a terrible 3-15 and have since fired Derek Fisher as their head coach. New York is still third in the division at 25-37, although Boston is third in the conference at 37-25.

Despite the Knicks awful record and play as of late, they still come in with some intriguing players. Of course, Carmelo Anthony is always worth watching as he’s one of the best players in the game. Also, the fact that he supposedly denied a trade to Boston this season — or maybe he didn’t — adds some intrigue for Celtics’ fans. Either way, Melo is always one of the most fun players to watch in the league. Kristaps Porzingis has stolen the show this year in New York though. He’s taken the city by storm about as fast as Jeremy Lin did, although Melo doesn’t hate Porzingis.

The X-Factor in this game for the Celtics is Jae Crowder. He will be up against one of the best scorers in the game on Friday night. In their three games against the Knicks, Crowder has held Anthony to 20.7 points per game, but Melo did grab 9.3 boards per contest. The Celtics are a solid rebounding team and can live with Melo getting close to a double-double, but they won’t be able to live if he goes off for 30-plus points. There’s no doubt that Crowder knows the intensity he’ll have to play with to slow down Melo. Anthony has been an all-around player for New York this season once again, leading the team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals per game.

Offensively, Crowder needs to continue to play at the level he has been over the past five games. Crowder has recorded three 20-plus scoring games over the team’s past five contests, including a clutch three against the Utah Jazz late in the game. If he’s able to notch another 20-plus scoring night and keep pace with Melo, it will do wonders for Boston.

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The X-Factor for the Knicks is Jose Calderon. This season Calderon has started every game for the Knicks, and has played more than 12 more minutes per game than rookie Jerian Grant. However, Calderon will need to be on his A-game on Friday night against the speedy Isaiah Thomas. In their three matchups this season, Thomas has had his way with New York. In 34.8 minutes, he has averages of 25 points, 7.3 assists, and 5.3 rebounds per game. He has dominated the Knicks this season and has had some of his best all-around performances against New York.

On offense this season, Calderon has done close to nothing for the Knicks. In 27.8 minutes per game, he’s averaging a lowly 7.6 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.1 rebounds per game. Having a scrappy Isaiah Thomas on him, and then Marcus Smart off the bench, will cause even more problems for Calderon. He does make 40.4 percent of his threes, and he’ll have to if the Knicks have a chance of beating the Celtics on Friday.

Next: Thoughts on the Rookies in the Win Over Portland

A game between two in-division rivals is always fun to watch, especially when your team is significantly better. Carmelo Anthony has not been the same scoring machine we are used to seeing, and the Porzingis magic has seemingly run out. With that being said, this could easily be a trap game for the Celtics if they’re not up for it, considering their next game is against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Boston needs to treat this like any other game or they’ll get beat, but the chance their rookies see more action on Friday is likely.

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