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RIP New York Kincks; Boston ends New York's season

CELTICS 101
KNICKS 89

The season is now over for the New York Knicks.

A year full of great promise after the Knickenbockers acquired Amare Stoudemire in the off-season, and traded for superstar Carmelo Anthony at mid-season, concluded with utter disappointment as the Boston Celtics swept New York out of MSG in the first round of the playoffs.

After two very close games in Boston, the Knicks showed little heart and even littler might at home the past two nights.

Sure the Knicks had a nice charge in the fourth quarter of game four, cutting the Celtics 23 point lead to four, but it was never enough. Ray Allen, who has killed the Knicks throughout the series hit a big three pointer, again, to augment the lead back to seven, and after that the Celtics rolled along in the final five minutes.

The Knicks problems have always been the same: they don't play defense. There is no help in the paint against the size of someone like a Kevin Garnett, no size to make rebounds on either end, and really no point guard leadership.

Sure the Knicks missed an injured Chauncey Billups for the better part of the series, but at his age, the Knicks need to think about the future.

The talk around the Knicks throughout this resurection of a once dead franchise, has been that the Knicks would target New Orleans point guard Chris Paul in the off-season of 2012. That is a year away. Maybe the Knicks can hope that Darren Williams, of the Nets, will decided to opt out of his contract this summer, making him available on the market now, but they can't rest their laurels on that.

The Knicks need to draft a point guard, and a center in the draft. They then have to get some serious help on the bench which was thinned out because of the Melo deal.

Should they fire coach Mike D'Antoni? No. He is a good coach, a proven winner who brought the Suns to brink of NBA Finals past, and has overseen this turnaround in New York. Sure he's not a great defensive mind, but if the Knicks can get the right pieces in place, there is no reason for them to not go deeper next year.

If they fail, then, and only then can eyebrows be raised on the coach.

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