Stoudemire pulled a back muscle warming up for game two and essentially missed the entire game. Billups injured his knee in the closing seconds on game one and has been out since. Of the two, Stoudemire is more likely to play as Billups may need a few more days to heal. The Knicks have been surprisingly resilient considering they have been without two of their three star players. Not many people would have expected the Knicks to still be in game two after losing both players. Regardless, the Celtics bench needs to step up. The bench was once again absent from the scoring sheet allowing the Knicks to erase leads set forth by the starting five. Even with Stoudemire and Billups the Celtics should roll past the Knicks, however, the second unit’s inability to put away games has been dogging the Celtics all year and is dangerously close to costing them some games in the playoffs.

The game will once again be an epic encounter for the ages, but it would be nice to blow the Knicks out and coast into the second round. Not sure if you noticed, but the Celtics are old and they cannot afford to play any more games than they have to. There are way to many miles on this team and each extra game will just add to the wear and tear this team cannot afford at this stage of the season.

All of course will be well on Sunday when Shaq returns right? No, he is not. How about when we finally see the fruits of the Kendrick Perkins trade? Still nothing…

Following the same trend as an earlier post that focused on why the Celtics would win and lose, we get to see how Knicks fans view their team’s chances against the Celtics in this epic round one match up:

Reasons Why The Knicks Will Lose:

Health—After continuously fighting through two games and losing by a combined 5 points while holding the lead with under a minute left in each, the Knicks have found more obstacles to overcome than most would suspect possible. Amar’e has an always unpredictable back injury that forced him to miss almost all of Game 2, possibly more. And Chauncey Billups strained his knee at the end of Game 1, forcing him to miss all of Game 2 and leaving the word questionable next to his name on the official press release. These are two extremely important players for New York, and if they can’t go the Knicks chances of victory plummets to very little.

Transition Defense—In the half court, the Knicks are surprising a lot of people (Boston included) with their tenacious defensive play. The Celtics forced bad shot after bad shot in Game 1, but, thanks to Rondo, Game 2 was a different story. The Celtics point guard pushed defensive rebounds up the court and attacked the rim with reckless abandon. With Chauncey out and the Knicks not especially looking to give Anthony Carter heavy minutes, Toney Douglas kept giving Rondo the matador defense, allowing him to score a personal playoff high 30 points. If the Knicks want to win Game 3, they’ll need to make over 50% of their jump shots and then hustle back on defense.

Coaching Discrepancy—Doc Rivers is absolutely owning D’Antoni through two games. It’s almost like the Knicks coach only comes to the table with a brilliant Plan A, and when Rivers’ Celtics take it away all of New York’s players look lost. From the Kevin Garnett alley-oop to the Carmelo double team which forced the ball to Jared Jeffries in crunch time, Rivers is dominating this matchup to the point where it could cost D’Antoni his job.

Reasons Why The Knicks Will Win:

Rebounding—After facing a rebound deficit in Game 1, the Knicks responded by out rebounding the C’s 53-37. New York had 20 (!) offensive boards and it was easily the biggest reason they were able to hang in the game. If New York can continue to dominate the offensive glass, they may not need Chauncey to win.

Toney Douglas—He was the looming X-Factor before this series started and as of now he remains in the role. So far, Douglas has disappointed on the defensive end, but offensively he’s making some huge shots. If his aggressiveness is able to grow and he’s somehow able to find the hot hand, Douglas could be a huge difference maker.

Carmelo Anthony—Why not? We know one guy can’t beat five, but Carmelo came damn close in Game 2. He finished with 17 rebounds to go along with his 482 points, and drew instant double teams down the stretch—something the Celtics don’t normally like to do. Should Anthony have another game like this and a few mistakes are corrected, the Knicks can easily even this thing up.

Said Billups: “It’s really sore today, but we’re going to treat it all day today and tomorrow and see how it goes. At this point in the season, this is the worst thing that could possibly happen, getting hurt in the first game of a tough series. I know my team needs me and it’s just frustrating.”

The Knicks have not ruled out the possibility of an MRI. Billups is hoping to return to action in game three when the series heads to New York.

If Billups is unable to go, backup guard Toney Douglas will get the start. Douglas hit a key three pointer putting the Knicks ahead 85-82 on Sunday night with 37.8 seconds left in the game. Although a downgrade from Billups, Douglas has played well at times this season spelling Billups.