Led by Kenyon Martin, the Knicks showed up to Madison Square Garden dressed for a funeral. It was supposed to be the night the Knicks ended the Pierce-Garnett era. But it wasn't. Instead, the Knicks lost 92-86 and are now up just 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
The Knicks couldn't make a shot, couldn't stop the Celtics when it mattered and couldn't save themselves a trip to Boston Friday night for a huge game six. No NBA team has ever blown a 3-0 lead, but as New York and Boston fans know, it's happened in other sports.
How did this happen to the Knicks? Cold shooting from Carmelo Anthony (8-24, 22 points) and JR Smith (clearly rusty, he shot just 3-14, without a make until 2:49 left in the fourth, fourteen points) left the Knicks without much offensive punch. Tyson Chandler still isn't playing like his usual self and Kenyon "Pall Bearer" Martin was in foul trouble all game. And the Knicks shot just 5-22 to the Celtics' 11-22 from three. Live by the three, die by the three. That alone cost the Knicks the game.
The Knicks struggled to solve the Celtics' single-teaming of Carmelo Anthony with Brandon Bass for the second game in a row and if it hadn't been for Raymond Felton (21 points on 10-19 shooting in 44 minutes) and Iman Shumpert (active and strong on both ends, he finished with twelve points, six boards and three steals), the Knicks wouldn't have been able to keep it as close as they did. And it wasn't all that close: the Knicks offense sputtered throughout, Melo constantly missed defensive rotations and the Knicks never held a lead in the second half.
Credit to the Celtics though: Brandon Bass, Jeff Green, Jason Terry, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett all finished the game with more than fifteen points and the Celtics took control for good in the second quarter. Doc Rivers played just seven guys all game and five of them scored in double figures. It's almost like the Celtics didn't like the Knicks mocking them by pretending game five was a funeral. The Knicks will have no choice but to try and bury them again in game six Friday.
