The Knicks put on a dominating performance Tuesday night as they defeated the Boston Celtics 100-85. The victory was the Knicks fifth victory in a row as they improve their record to 43-26.
The Celtics now trail the Knicks by 7 .5 games in the Atlantic division, which all but guarantees that someone besides the Celtics (Knicks or Nets) will win the Atlantic division for the first time since the 2006-2007 season.
The Knicks led 28-24 after the first quarter and then took control of the game in the 2nd quarter ending the quarter on a 23-9 run. The Knicks were able to get to the paint for layups at will, as the Celtics did not have a defensive presence in the paint with Kevin Garnett missing the game due to injury
“Kevin’s not playing. I don’t worry about it,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “Overall, we were pretty bad tonight. Kevin had nothing to do with that.”
The Celtics would cut the lead to 67-60 midway through the 3rd quarter, but the Knicks would respond with a 17-9 run to close out the quarter. From there on the Knicks would coast in the 4th quarter on their way to victory.
“It’s not easy winning in Boston. We played a solid 48 minutes” coach Mike Woodson said after the game.
JR Smith was on fire scoring 32 points coming off the bench on 13-24 shooting, including a three pointer at mid court to end the 3rd quarter and put the Knicks up by 15. Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points and Steve Novak shot 3 out of 6 from three point land.
Also key to the Knicks victory was the 15 offensive rebounds, compared to the Celtics who had only seven, and the Knicks committed only 8 turnovers while the Celtics committed 19.
The Knicks will play the Celtics again Sunday night at Madison Square Garden as they look to win the season series against the Celtics for the first time in years. A victory on Sunday would also give momentum to the Knicks if these teams should meet in the first round of the playoffs. If the playoffs were to start today, these two teams would play each other in the first round.