The Celtics came out hitting almost everything in sight, and they barely let up, going wire-to-wire to beat a Knicks team that had won 4 straight home games. Jared Sullinger and Avery Bradley combined to shoot 22 of 33, or just under 67% for 48 points to carry the Celtics offense. The rest of the guys weren’t so bad either, as the team shot 55% overall.
Celtics started out hot, hitting their first 5 shots while the Knicks opened 1-10 from the field over the course of a 14-2 Celtics run to start the game. But the early 12 point lead was cut to 6 courtesy of a 9-3 Knicks run after they started to find the bottom of the net. Jason Smith was the big man early for the Knicks, hitting on 4-of-6 shots to keep the Knicks close in the first. The Celtics got 6 each out of Sullinger and Smart, while Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder added 5 each in a balanced attack. The Celtics hit on 10 of 18 in the first to shoot 56%, including 4-8 from 3. The Knicks were able to stay within 7 points despite shooting 34.6% because they got 26 shots up to Boston’s 18.
The lead hung around that for most of the second quarter, though the Celtics put a little run together to push it back up to 10 mid-way through the quarter. Them the starting unit came back in and took it to another level, putting a quick 6-0 run in less than a minute to push the lead to 16. The Celtics hot shooting continued in the second, as they hit 12 of 21 (57%) to counter the Knicks 53% shooting for the quarter. The starting unit shot 8-12 in the quarter, but it was really 8-11 because the last shot was a forced Sully 3.
The Knicks came out with a lot more energy in the 3rd, but the largely kept pace early on. Carmelo Anthony, who was defended pretty well for the first half, found his scoring touch in the 3rd, but the Celtics lead was still 10 with 5 minutes left in the quarter. It was 13 with 2:09 left, but the Knicks went on a 7-2 run to close the quarter and cut the lead to 8 heading into the 4th. The Celtics ended up shooting 40% in the quarter while the Knicks shot 60%. Melo scored 10 for the Knicks. Bradley was 3-4 for 6 points to pace the C’s in the quarter.
After some back-and-forth, the Knicks used a beautiful backdoor cut from Shane Larkin to cut the lead to 4. The Celtics answered with baskets from Crowder and Sullinger to get the lead back up to 8. Sully continued his onslaught, hitting his third shot of the quarter as part of a 6-0 run to push the lead back into double digits with half a quarter left. There were no runs left after that, and the Celtics held on to win this one 108-97.
The Green:
Marcus Smart had some effective time in the post tonight. Considering his strength and quickness (and ability to, ahem, sell fouls), don’t be surprised to see more of this moving forward.
Evan Turner played some solid first-half defense on Melo. The Celtics were allowed to play him physically for most of the game (he only took 2 free throws), and although he had 21 points, it took him 23 shots.
Jared Sullinger was much more selective with his shooting tonight. He’s not been great from deep lately, and it seem like he’s making a point to maybe work the ball around some more and focus his scoring closer to the basket. It paid off in a big way as he shot 11 of 19 for the night. Yes, he was 0-3 from deep, but one of those was a desperation heave at the half, and another was a step-back taken to end the first quarter. So really, Sullinger took one 3 in the flow of the offense.
Nice to see Jae Crowder with a solid overall game off the bench. His 13 points was his first double-digit scoring game since his big 22 point outburst against New Orleans nearly a month ago.
The Gross:
I’m going to nitpick here, but Avery Bradley is KILLING me with his long 2’s a step inside the 3-point line. And yes, I know… I know… if he’d launched 10 3’s tonight I’d be blasting him for not driving, but if you’re going to settle for 23 foot jumpers, you might as well step back 10 inches.
The Greenlights:
Wish I could find some
The Grid:
- James Young: 17 minutes, 2-7 fg (0-3 3pt), 5 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast
- Points in the paint: New York- 42-34
- Fastbreak points: New York- 9-2
- Free Throws: Boston: 18-23 New York 8-11
I’m not exactly ready to declare this starting lineup a smashing success considering they beat the 10-win Knicks and were quite close to blowing this lead. But this game had a nice feel to it. I’m thinking Brad Stevens gives this group a few more games like this to see if this is fool’s gold, or if they’ve hit on something.
I will say I’m coming around to the thought of Smart handling the point. I’m NOT coming around on his heavy-reliance on the 3, but I’m willing to accept it for now as something that’s happening early, and not necessarily something that will last his entire career.
Let’s just enjoy the win on the front-end of a back-to-back and the beginning of a 4-game-in-5-night stretch.
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