Anthony Scores 42 as Knicks Lose Another Close Game to the Celtics

The New York Knicks were beat up and without two of their best players for much of the game last night. Still they gave the Boston Celtics almost more than they could handle. Chauncey Billups was out of the game with an injury that occurred during the last game and Amare Stoudemire missed the entire second half with back spasms. The Knicks rode Carmelo Anthony close to a victory, but the Celtics pulled ahead with 14 seconds left and won the game 96-93.

The Celtics were led by a driving Rajon Rondo who came out of the gate hot scoring 14 of his 30 points in the first quarter. Paul Pierce put another 20 points on the board and Ray Allen was right behind him with 18. The biggest shot from the Big Three came from Kevin Garnett. With 14 seconds to go he put in the go-ahead basket. Ten seconds later he stole the ball to seal the game for his team.

For his part Carmelo Anthony matched his career high in playoff points with 42 and established a new rebound mark with 17. He even lead a charge to close an 11 point gap in the game, coming out in the fourth quarter and scoring his team's first seven points. He couldn't keep the pace down the stretch and eventually the Celtics prevailed.