Kendrick Perkins wanted to know why the New York Knicks were, once again, so slow to start Saturday afternoon’s Game 3 against the Boston Celtics. It was a perfectly fair question, given that New York trailed 71-46. Perkins just took the long way asking it.
He started smoothly, saying that with the Celtics trailing 2-0 in the series, it was well known that they would come out hard.
“Here’s the thing I want to ask y’all,” Perkins said to co-hosts Stephen A. Smith, Malika Andrews and Bob Myers. “We knew that the Celtics were gonna come out there and fight and was ready for this game.”
Before Perkins could finish that thought, he brought up his grandmother, first appearing to forget that she was still alive.
“My grandmother, Mary Eve Lewis, God rest — you know, bless her this upcoming Mother’s Day. She has Alzheimer’s. She was ready for this game,” he said.
We’ll second that sentiment and wish Perkins’ grandmother and all mothers a happy Mother’s Day.
Perkins then picked up his original question.
“If you’re the Knicks, how do you keep easing into the basketball game, knowing that this was gonna be a high-intensity game?”
Perkins is correct. That’s undoubtedly something for Tom Thibodeau and the Knicks to work on. They’ve been slow starters in the series against the Celtics. And unlike Games 1 and 2, there was no second-half comeback. Boston easily defeated New York, 115-93.