Welcome to MSG …
NEW YORK — Welcome to Madison Square Garden, where the Boston Celtics will take on the New York Knicks at 7 p.m. The Celtics lead the best-of-seven series, 2-0.
Waited a little while to get into the world’s most famous arena because credentials weren’t ready, but spent some time with a guy who is presumably the world’s most famous security guard, Alex. Nice guy.
The delay prevented me from beating Celtics guard Ray Allen out onto the arena floor. Allen’s just wrapped up his pregame shooting routine, per usual. Just as he did in a recent episode of “The Association”, Allen literally had to tip-toe around Knicks dancers to get such early court time. It didn’t seem to bother him.
Early prediction is that the frenzied MSG crowd won’t bother the Celtics, either. It might even light a fire under them. Glen Davis, in particular, likes playing under the bright lights. The Knicks, of course, will be motivated by their home crowd as well, and that should be good for a point or two here and there.The Celtics will have to play better than they did Tuesday night in order to win.
Other players are just now making their way onto the floor. Media members are filing into a makeshift press room built for these playoffs — there’s construction going on here and things are in a bit of disarray.
The official playing status of both Amar’e Stoudemire and Chauncey Billups will be known in the next couple of hours, and we’ll bring you that news as it comes down. We’ve got the full Globe team of Julian Benbow, Gary Washburn, Bob Ryan, Amalie Benjamin, and Greg Lee here in New York tonight. Follow along, ask questions, leave a comment, and most of all enjoy the game.
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