Knicks News: Kurt Rambis Takes Blame for Awful Final Possession Against Celtics

Interim head coach Kurt Rambis took the blame for the debacle that was the final possession of the game Friday night.

With no timeouts remaining and the New York Knicks down by one point, Carmelo Anthony decided to go for the win, instead of scoring as quickly as possible. With about a dozen seconds remaining in the game, Anthony decided to dribble out most of the clock… making his move too late… allowing the Boston Celtics to foul (had one to give) him.

The foul allowed the Celtics to reset on defense with 3.3 seconds left… and Anthony was forced way beyond the three-pointer arc, attempting a hail Mary that clanked off the glass…

After the game, Anthony said that he wanted to take the last shot as per Marc Berman of the New York Post.

"“I wanted to take the last shot, but I also knew they had a foul to give,’’“I was trying to anticipate it.’’"

CLEARLY! Why else would you just hold the ball doing nothing… waiting to be the hero…

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I just did not understand the thought process on the final possession… Why did the Knicks not just try to score as quickly as possible!!! So that in a worst case scenario, the Knicks could have at least prolonged the game by fouling… Instead Anthony went for the hero-ball, instead of the logical, higher percentage play…

Interim head coach Kurt Rambis though fall on the sword for his team after the game, stating that it was his fault, taking the blame for the whole mess.

"“I couldn’t get them organized,’’“A lot of confusion out there. That’s on me not having enough timeouts. I feel bad for the guys. They did so many good things.’’"

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That I 100% agree with, having no timeouts in the final moments should never happen. That is a given. But with New York down one, the strategy should be to attack as soon as possible! If you miss, you give your team another chance by fouling to prolong the game. If you make it, then you should have enough confidence in your defense to make a stop.

Having Anthony isolate to go for the final shot was a poor strategy… At the very least,attack immediately so you can draw the final foul to give from Boston… so that you can have as much time as possible to run a coherent final play…

But according to Rambis, maybe the team could not hear him from the sideline amid all the confusion without a timeout.

"“Could you hear anything out there at that point?’’“It was very difficult, but it’s on me. That’s my fault. I’ve got to have them better prepared in situation like that where we don’t have a timeout and give visual signal to them so they know what to get into.’’"

Yes, going forward some hand signals and visual cues for some pet-plays might be helpful. Not sure why there isn’t any already… -_-”

During the post game conference Rambis reiterated multiple times the fact that the team lost their composure. None was more evident than when Langston Galloway got his pass deflected, leading to a breakaway layup by Jae Crowder.

This was a symptom throughout the game, Boston ran out on every poor-decision and shot-selection New York made. The Celtics finished the game with 30 fast break points! Rambis felt that was the biggest key to the game, not getting back on defense.

"“We lost our composure,’’“That was the big thing — turning the ball over, then giving easy runouts. We didn’t give our half-court defense a chance to get stops. They deserved to win the ballgame. They’re frustrated because they thought they shouldn’t won the ballgame.’’"

According to NBA.com the Knicks normally only allow 12.6 opponent fast break points per game, which is actually slightly below the league average. Unfortunately, the Celtics more than doubled that number Friday night.

Although, Anthony felt like the team did enough good things to win and said that it shouldn’t have even came down to the final shot.

"“The fight we put out there, we put ourselves in position to win on the road,’’“You can’t ask for anything more than that. We did everything but win the basketball game tonight. I thought we did a lot of great things tonight and put ourselves in position to win the game.’’"

Next: Carmelo Anthony Searching for Answers

There was a lot of positives to take from Friday night’s game, most notably the team sharing the ball well, having a decently balanced attack with all five starters in double-figures scoring. But all those positives does not outweigh the fact that the Knicks have now lost 16 of their last 19 games… It also does erase the horrific late-execution from the team.