After jumping out to a 21-5 lead and holding the Celtics to ten points in the first quarter, it looked like game six was going to be a rout for the Knicks. Terrible shooting from the Celtics and stellar play from every Knick not named Carmelo Anthony pushed the Knicks lead all the way to 26 with just 9:49 to play in the game. And then all hell broke lose.

Tonight's game was a roller coaster, to put it mildly: Lapses in concentration from Raymond Felton and Carmelo Anthony woke up Avery Bradley, who caused havoc on both ends. Jeff Green started making shots from the field and at the line. Paul Pierce made a three. All of a sudden the Celtics had gone on a 20-0 run. With 5:44 left, the Knicks were up just six, 75-69. The doomsday scenario was playing out in front of Knicks fans' eyes. A game seven seemed certain.

That was until Iman Shumpert jumped a pass that led him to a breakaway layup, making it an eight-point lead. The Knicks and Celtics traded baskets after that and the Celtics cut the lead to four, but Shumpert had ended the Knicks' drought and they were able to come up with the points and stops they needed to hold on and end the series. Melo finally made some jump shots, the Knicks controlled the offensive boards and the Celtics didn't have the legs to get over the hump.

And with that, the Knicks won 88-80 and took the series four games to two, getting their first playoff series since 1999-2000. Exhale.

The Knicks won the game because they held on and they were able to hold on because they played very well—not great—for three quarters. They did that with solid offense, their defense was good not great. The Celtics' inability to score was more due to a failure to make shots (Paul Pierce, for example, was 4-18 from the field and 1-9 from three for fourteen points and the Celtics shot just 38% as a team) than it was the defense.

The Knicks built their lead because for three quarters they went away from the iso-Melo-heavy ball they'd played for the last two games and moved the ball like the NBA's third-best offense that they were during the regular season. Raymond Felton drove and dished his way to eleven points and seven assists, Pablo Prigioni was 4-6 from three, Iman Shumpert shot 6-9 from the field and was 3-3 from three on his way to seventeen points. All that offense, nine offensive rebounds from Tyson Chandler (plus the usual tip outs) and Iman Shumpert's stellar on-ball defense gave the Knicks what they needed. Just. Barely.

The Knicks' role players weren't perfect - Ray Felton missed a few too many shots (5-14) and had couple of difficult minutes amid the Celtics' run - but this was a game in which the Knicks' non-star-starters carried them to victory, overcoming another below average game from Melo (7-23, 21 points), JR Smith (5-13, thirteen points) and Mike Woodson (allowing the Knicks to go iso-Melo pretty much every play down the stretch).

On the Knicks go. For those Knick fans who have forgotten or who are too young to know, they'll play another series against another team now. It'll be the Indiana Pacers, a familiar team from playoff runs past, that the Knicks will match up with starting Sunday. Very exciting.

You can follow Jonathan Fishner on Twitter @therealkingfish, and check out his blog The Real King Fish.