Celtics Weather Sunday Storm Of Knicks Sweep To Force MSG Game 5.
Starting off Sunday’s NBA quadruple-header was the potential closer with the New York Knicks moving to the 2nd round, sweeping the Boston Celtics who were down in a 0-3 hole. The Knicks 2nd leading score and recently awarded 6th man of the year, J.R. Smith was suspended for game 4 due to a flagrant elbow thrown at Jason Terry in game 3.
The Knicks who were going to miss their scoring spark from off the bench, as Carmelo was virtually alone with little from the role players. One key player for NYK that did step up and contribute was Raymond Felton who shot 4 for 9 from beyond the arch netting in 27 points. The Knicks bench was held to only 7 points; while the Celtics saw an explosive Jason Terry helping the team survive the thriller.
During the 2nd quarter, Boston really kicked things into high gear taking a 19-point lead headed into the half highlighted by Paul Pierce scoring 8 points in the last 2 minutes of the half. During that run, the C’s stretched their lead from 10 to 19 heading into the half.
The third quarter would be highlighted by a Knicks 30-14 run led by Raymond Felton’s 17 points. He closed out the quarter knocking in a 3 beating the buzzer to bring New York to within 1. In the fourth, both teams would go back and forth until the 1:17 mark where Reymond Felton would give the Knicks their first lead of the game of 2. Kevin Garnett would answer back in the final minute with a deep 17-foot jumper near the 3-point line to send the game into OT.
In overtime, Jason Terry would come up big scoring the Celtics last 9 points to solidify their victory, escaping the sweep and their first round exit for the time being. The series now switches back to MSG with a game 5 meeting set for Wednesday. The rest in our opinion benefits New York more than Boston, who has momentum at the moment. Carmelo Anthony played 45 minutes for NY taking over shots.
Paul Pierce played a game high of 50 points but spent his afternoon guarding Tyson Chandler during the majority of the game; in comparison to Melo guarding him or Jeff Green in the switch-off. Celtics won game 4 strictly for pride to not be swept on their home-court; but with J.R. Smith back in the line-up for game 5, we’ll most likely see the Knicks winning their series since the 2000 playoffs.
Win or Go HOME!