Carmelo Anthony torches Miami Heat with 41 points and Amare’ Stoudemire posts 20 points and 10 rebounds on his comeback night as the New York Knicks escape at the Madison Square Garden to keep the series alive .....
On Sunday night here at the Madison Square Garden, Carmelo Anthony dropped 41 points to help the New York Knicks carve out an 89-87 win over the Miami Heat in Game 4 of this first round Eastern Conference series.
This win helped the Knicks end the longest losing streak in the post season at 13. Following, Anthony`s spectacular offensive prowess, Knicks had another star player coming from injury in Amare` Stoudemire and he made up for his
follies immediately.
Stoudemire who had injured his hand by punching a glass case on a fire extinguisher after the Game 2 loss in Miami was very resourceful on the night and notching up a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds.
"I wanted to do whatever I can to heal up as fast as I can, mainly for my teammates and also for the fans who know how passionate we are about winning." – Stoudemire said after the game.
These two carried the entire load of scoring for the Knicks throughout the game. The third highest scorer for New York was J.R. Smith, who came off the bench to record only 7 points in the ball game.
Heat had the Big Three firing on all cylinders in the game. However they were undone by monstrous night from Carmelo, which was highlighted by a go-ahead triple with 54 seconds left in the game which eventually turned out to be
the most crucial shot of the match. Stoudemire and Anthony however nearly made a mess by converting only two of the next five free throws, but Wade missed a game winning three and the Knicks survived.
LeBron James led the Miami offence with 27 points, but only had 4 boards and 4 assists. Dwyane Wade racked up 22 points, 6 assists and 3 blocks whereas Chris Bosh finally crossed the double digit mark by recording 17 points to
his name. Bosh also had 9 rebounds.
However other than those three, Miami lacked any kind of significant offence from the rest of the roster as Udonis Haslem was the fourth highest scorer, finishing the game with mere 6 points to his name.
Miami like the previous three matches in the series got off and running early as they held a 10-3 advantage. However the Knicks were fighting for their life in the post season, and responded with a 10-2 run to take their first
lead of the match at the 4:31 mark, 13-12.
The action remained end to end from there on as there was not much to separate the two teams. At the close of the quarter, New York were able to hold a minor advantage with the scores being 20-18.
The second quarter saw the Heat turn up the intensity on both ends of the court. They managed to start off by adding 12 points to their tally while holding the Knicks scoreless to attain a double digit lead in the match, 30-20.
Miami were able to hold off any kind of a charge from the Knicks at bay and at the half way stage were leading at 44-38
The Miami advantage got back to double figures at the 8:40 mark in the third quarter, courtesy of a jump shot from Bosh, 51-40. However, from that point on, Knicks again rallied their way back into the game with a 19-2 run to snatch
back the lead. Before the start of the fourth quarter, the difference was between the two was only 3 and the scores being 64-61, advantage Knicks.
The final quarter turned out to be a very tight affair. There was nothing to separate the two till the final minute of the game, when the scores were tied at 84.
On the next possession, Anthony knocked down a long range dagger to cross the 40 point park but he did go on to miss 2 out of 3 free throws which kept the Heat in the game. James responded with a three point play of his own to
make this a 1 point game.
The free throw troubles continued for the Knicks when Stoudemire only managed to convert 1 out of 2 after being fouled by Haslem. The match went right down to the wire and had it not been for Wade missing a game winning three with
only 2.4 seconds on the clock, the outcome of the match could have been completely different.
The missed triple from Wade, allowed the Knicks to finally register a win in the playoffs since 2001. The win was however marred by a knee injury to point guard Baron Davis midway through the third quarter. The injury was later
diagnosed as a dislocated right patella. Davis' injury will now put extra pressure on an already depleted Knicks back court.
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