Preseason basketball happened; Celtics fall to Knicks 80 - 96

Preseason basketball isn't always pretty.  In fact, I'd argue that it can be downright look-away bad.  Tonight's game wasn't "delete from the DVR before watching it" bad.  I mean, we finally have basketball and sometimes it is fun to watch these games to get a feel for some of the end of bench guys and new players.  But it wasn't exactly pretty either.

There were a lot of runs where the point differential swung this way or that.  There were missed defensive assignments.  And there was perhaps a lack of urgency (and when it boils down to it, there isn't a great deal of need to win preseason games).

So it was preseason basketball and that's about it.  Some additional notes:

• Man, Marcus Thornton can put up points in a hurry can't he?  At one point in the 3rd quarter, Thornton erased a 7 point deficit all by himself in less than a minute.
• Marcus Smart's jumper needs work.  It isn't just that he missed shots. He missed badly, with the ball careening off the side of the rim.  We were told that his jumper needed work and they were right.  Thankfully his defense is as good as advertised.  All things told, I'd rather have a guy need to work on his jumper than a guy that can't defend.
• Sullinger on the other hand was money from long range tonight - hitting 3 of his 4 from beyond the arc and 6 of 7 overall.  He finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds in just 26 minutes of play.
• Evan Turner didn't hit a single 2 point shot, but finished with 11 points because he hit 8 of 10 free throws and a 3 pointer.
• Looks like Olynyk was given the night off as a healthy scratch.  Joel Anthony got the start and did Joel Anthony things (solid on D, not much on O).
• Gerald Wallace also sat this one out, but I didn't notice until I checked the box score.  Yup.
• I'm really enjoying the Brian Scalabrine experience.  He breaks down the game like a coach and I feel like I learn something about the game when I listen to him.