New York (32-29, 21-11 home) was on fire NBA Jam style all night as they won 118-110 over Boston (36-26, 15-17 away) at Madison Square Garden, knotting the season series at two in the finale.
Steve Novak (25 points) hit eight 3-pointers, setting a career-high in points. J.R. Smith (25 points) tied a team-record with seven 3-pointers all in the first half. The crazy thing is that both those guys came off the bench and Carmelo Anthony (35 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) was even better since he notched a triple-double.
Not having Mickael Pietrus or Ray Allen certainly hurt Boston's chances of A) stopping those guys and B) getting points from the bench. Boston's bench was outscored 55-2, haha that's not a misprint.
The Knicks hit 19 3-pointers (most ever allowed in Celtics franchise history) out of 34 attempts, tying a season-high in makes and falling one short of the franchise mark set way back in 2010-11. The Celtics played absolutely no defense and trailed 72-53 at halftime yet somehow, they hung around for virtually the entire way.
Paul Pierce scored a season-high 43 points (most for a Boston player in 6 years), including an incredible 17 of 18 from the free throw line. Kevin Garnett had 20 points, Avery Bradley scored 17 points (5 for 6 on 3-pointers!), Brandon Bass had 15 points and Rajon Rondo put up 13 points (2 for 4 on 3-pointers) and 13 assists. His double digit assist streak reached 23 games in a row.
Tyson Chandler also had 20 points and seven rebounds for the Knicks. The Celts could have clinched the Atlantic Division with a win but it's basically a formality with four games remaining and New York trailing by 3.5 games.
Boston flies home for another primetime game tomorrow at TD Garden against the Orlando Magic, minus Dwight Howard. The Celtics beat the Magic in back-to-back games in January, including that absurd comeback on January 26 (91-83) in Orlando. Odds are that the C's will play either the Magic or Hawks (their opponent on Friday) in the first round of the playoffs with the 4 vs. 5 matchup. I think most would agree that Orlando, especially with Howard banged up, would be easier to beat.
Three of the Celtics' last four games are at home. Rondo took a hard fall on his back and he's questionable for tomorrow. If there's any doubt on his status, they will surely be cautious since he's the franchise and their only hope to go far in the playoffs.
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