Rondo-less Boston Celtics down New York Knicks 102-96 on road: NBA Recap
Playing without their star play maker Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics defeated the red hot New York Knicks 102-96 here at the Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
Carmelo Anthony had an off night. He had 20 points in a 6 of 26 shooting from the floor. He was visibly frustrated at the result; he left the court moments before the final buzzer and then confronted Kevin Garnett outside the Celtics
locker room and was not available for comments afterwards.
J.R. Smith scored 24 points as he went 4 of 9 from the three point land while Tyson Chandler posted a double-double with 13 points and 17 rebounds for the night.
Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 23 points and 6 assists, Kevin Garnett collected a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Jeff Green chipped in with 16 points for the winning cause.
"Yeah it got intense in the end, but for the most part it was us trying to put plays together to get stops. I thought we did a good job of doing that." Garnett commented on some heated exchanges of words during the game.
The first period was very close. Both teams kept each other in check early on and no one piled up a major advantage at any stage of the quarter. The Celtics were leading 22-21 by the end of the period.
The Knicks sharp shooter, Steve Novak, opened up the scoring in the scoring quarter with a shot from behind the arc to put the Knicks up 24-22. The Knicks kept on connecting from downtown throughout the quarter and another Steve
Novak three pointer put them up 56-51later in the period before a deuce by the Celtics reduced the deficit down by two at halftime.
The Knicks were in front early in the third period before two deuces in quick succession tied the score on 64. Boston shifted gears and started making plays as they carved out 76-72 lead by the end of the third period.
Celtics opened up the fourth quarter with a 6-2 spurt that signalled their intentions to the Knicks. Celtics started pulling ahead in the period despite New York’s best efforts. However, the Knicks were not to go down without a
fight, they reduced the deficit down to 96-100 with 36.6 seconds on the clock but the Celtics kept their cool and Garnett scored two crucial free throws in the closing moments of the game to seal the deal as the Celtics went on to win 102-96 eventually.
Garnett however tried to downplay the incident in the post match comments. He said
"Listen, heat of the battle, man. Guys go back and forth. He's trying to get his team to go, I'm trying to get my team to go, both teams are colliding, not to mention that it's the Knicks and the Celtics"
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