The Knicks avoided having to face enormous pressure on Sunday and the ghost of Curt Schilling's bloody sock, with a gutsy 88-80 win at the TD Garden last night ending their first round playoff series against the Celtics. The game appeared more over than Hillary Swank's acting career when Shumpert (who had an outstanding game with 17 points and 6 rebounds) gave the Knicks a 75-49 lead. The Celtics almost performed the best comeback since John Travolta in "Pulp Fiction" by going on a 20 point unanswered run, but ultimately ran out of gas with less than 2 minutes to go. The Knicks can breathe a sigh of relief, but after this series, they seem unlikely to be able to be a serious challenge to the Miami Heat.
The Knicks showed why they have many of the ingredients needed to succeed in NBA playoff- their crunch time scorer, Carmelo Anthony, scored 7 consecutive points (including his first 3 pointer since Game 3) late in the 4thquarter and had almost as many assists (5) last night as he has had in prior 5 games of series (6), they received strong PG play from Prigioni (an incredibly underrated acquisition) and Raymond Felton (their most consistent player in the series), and their best big man, Tyson Chandler, looks healthier than he has been in weeks by scoring 9 points and getting 12 rebounds. While JR Smith has cost himself a small fortune on his next contract in the past 7 days with his poor play and behavior, Iman Shumpert (17 points and 6 rebounds) has more than picked up the slack and looks like a player ready to break out.
Despite being as dreadful as Miley Cyrus current haircut in the first half, the Celtics showed the heart of a true champion in the 4thquarter. Garnett, playing in what could have been his last NBA game, lived up to his nickname The Big Ticket by scoring some key baskets and controlling the board (15 points and 10 rebounds). Avery Bradley, who was fairly poor in the series, showed why he is considered one of the elite perimeter defenders in NBA in the 4thquarter. Jeff Green had another solid game, and ended the series averaging 20 points- quite an achievement when you consider that last summer his career was in jeopardy due to a heart issue. The Celtics were however let down by Paul Pierce, who was dreadful in first half (missing 7 of his first 8 shots), and was clearly effected by an elbow injury throughout the game. Stating that the Celtics really missed PG Rondo in this series is as obvious as a Jay Leno joke, in the first half the Celtics had more turnovers than baskets, and with no traditional PG on the roster the Celtics struggled moving the ball.
The Knicks won their first playoff series in 13 years, and Carmelo Anthony got to the second round of the playoffs for only the second time in his career. While they did struggle more than expected, being able to eliminate a mentally tough team like the Celtics is never easy.