A Dominant Third Quarter Leads New York to an 87-71 Victory Over Boston

A 37-foot buzzer-beater was drilled by J.R. Smith to end the first quarter; after that, he struck the pose you see in the image above. Despite happening early in the night, it truly represents how things went for the Knicks the rest of the game. While the Celts remained competitive for the first half, a tirade of points from Carmelo Anthony led the New York Knicks to an absolutely dominant 32-to-11 third quarter and a convincing 87-71 victory over the Boston Celtics. The Knicks take a 2-0 as the series advances to Boston this Friday.

Carmelo Anthony led the way for New York with 34 points on 11-of-24 shooting. Felton pitched in with 16 and J.R. Smith had 19, who had an incredible buzzer-beater to end the first quarter. The Knicks defense was authoritative in the second half, holding the Boston Celtics to only 23 points. This is the lowest scoring half in Boston Celtics playoff history.

The Boston Celtics had a very balanced scoring night. Paul Pierce had 18 points on 8-of-19 shooting but six players had between six and 12 points. Jordan Crawford and Jason Terry were impressive at certain points in the game. Terry had nine points off of three timely three-pointers in the first half, but was not a factor in the second half. Crawford hit some shots to start the fourth quarter, totally ten points on 4-of-11 shooting.

Recap

This first quarter opened up feeling a lot like game one. The Madison Square Garden crowd was unbearably loud as the New York Knicks established an early four-point lead. While the differential wasn't much, it felt like the Knicks were in total control; Kevin Garnett picking up two fouls a couple minutes into the game didn't help either. However, Boston was able to grab the lead towards the end of the quarter with some nice defense and two timely threes by x-factors Jordan Crawford and Jason Terry. But J.R. Smith turned things around quickly, ending the quarter with a monstrous run of plays; he hit a sweet fadeaway jumper, took a charge from Paul Pierce....and then a nailed a huge 37-foot buzzer-beater. Knicks led 26-20 after one.

Things got off to a very slow start in the second quarter for both teams until the 9:58 mark when Boston embarked on an 11-to-0 run to take the lead. With a couple baskets by Avery Bradley and a huge three-pointer by Jason Terry, Boston took the lead, 31-27. At the 7:52 mark, Mike Woodson called a timeout for the Knicks to try and slow things down. The game slowed down a bit after this but with 5:30 to go in the period, Kevin Garnett picked up his third foul as the C's led 36-32, this would be a time for the game to swing either way but Boston answered. After a nasty fadeaway by Paul Pierce, he threw a gorgeous pass from half court to Jeff Green for a dunk. The Celtics maintained their lead and went into halftime with a 48-42 lead.

The third quarter was disastrous for the Boston Celtics as the New York Knicks surged with a 20-to-4 run. With some fantastic team defense, two three-pointers from Iman Shumpert and some nasty shots by Carmelo Anthony, New York took a 62-52 lead by the middle of the quarter. The Knicks didn't let up, as they outscored the Celtics 32-11 this entire quarter. If you go back to the end of the first half, Boston had been outscored 35-11 going into the fourth. There really is nothing good to say about this quarter; the the Knicks really stepped up their defense and Boston couldn't convert the few open looks they got. New York played impeccable defense and couldn't be stopped offensively; it truly was picture-perfect basketball.

Boston started out the fourth quarter with an 8-to-2 run to bring themselves back into the game, trailing nine at the 9:23 mark of the quarter. Jordan Crawford and Paul Pierce led the charge in bringing them to that point. But Carmelo Anthony would not allow the game to get any closer, drilling a shot anytime the lead was cut to nine. Led by Kenyon Martin, the Knicks eventually turned their dominant defense back on, allowing only four points from Boston the rest of the quarter. The Knicks pushed the lead back to 16 and eventually closed out the game, winning 87-71.

For those that are unable to watch the game live or would like to review key moments from tonight, here is a quarter-by-quarter recap:

Quarter-by-Quarter Recap

First Quarter

• Pablo Prigioni returns from injury and is back in the starting lineup for the New York Knicks.
• Raymond Felton started the game defending Paul Pierce.
• Tenacious defense from the Knicks to start the game, causing some difficult passes and doubling Paul Pierce on the post with Prigioni leaving Avery Bradley.
• Kevin Garnett picks up his second foul with 8:39 to go. Chris Wilcox comes into make his first appearance in the NBA playoffs.
• This game is being called very tight. Anything that is arguably a foul is called.
• Celtics go small at the 6:06 mark. Jason Terry substitutes into the game for Chris Wilcox. I guess Doc has already given up on going big.
• Jeff Green only has three points at the 5:08 mark of the quarter but is playing very aggressively with multiple drives to the basket, including a nice one with Tyson Chandler defending him on a switch.
• One heck of a play by J.R. Smith at the 3:55 mark. He drove to the basket, spun to his left and passed to an open Kenyon Martin for a dunk.
• Jordan Crawford makes his first shot of his NBA playoff career, nailing a three to tie the game 15-15 at the 2:57 mark.
• Jason Terry finally hit a shot—a three—at the 1:57 mark.
• Boston is shooting 50% after the first quarter at 8-of-16 shooting.
• Celtics trail 26-20, thanks to J.R. Smith who is shooting 4-of-4 for nine points. Oh, by the way, he had a huge half court buzzer-beater to end the quarter.

Second Quarter