Knicks star Carmelo Anthony left Tuesday night’s game against the Boston Celtics after tweaking his right ankle late in the second quarter of the contest.
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On Sunday, as the Knicks Big Buck Hunted their way to a 12-point victory, the Celtics were busy losing a 21-point second half lead to a Mike Conley-less Memphis team that, at full strength, often struggles to score that many points in a whole quarter.
With Boston’s loss, it drops to.
Fans at Madison Square Garden cheered as Anthony returned to take a couple of warmup shots during halftime.
Here’s how it went down.
How things have quickly changed through the past months for Kristaps Porzingis.
Boston’s first quarter defense left a lot to be desired.
When allowing fewer than 100 points, the Celtics are 18-3 on the season. NY shot over 51 percent to lead by 10 at the half, but Anthony rolled his ankle right right before the break. The Knicks led 36-27 after one. They only shot 31% in the first half, and trailed by 10.
Anthony tumbled to the floor after stepping on an official’s foot running up court late in the second quarter.
He had the ankle re-taped and started the second half, but he was clearly in pain, and the Knicks had to call a timeout to remove him 19 seconds in. Defensively, the Celtics yield 99.1 points per game against the opposing teams. After scoring 20 points in the first half, he had trouble in the second.
The Celtics tried to jump on their chance at a comeback immediately in the third quarter.
Without Porzingis (26 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks) or Anthony (17 points in 17 minutes), the Knicks simply refused to quit.
Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph added 16 points apiece, while Courtney Lee contributed 13.
Toss in 17 combined fourth-quarter points from bench players Jerian Grant and Derrick Williams (who finished with with 16 and 15 points, respectively), and the Celtics were toast.
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Kevin Durant recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 26 points and 10 assists for the Thunder, who have won 10 of their last 12 games but were coming off a Christmas Day loss at home to the Chicago Bulls. But Jae Crowder hit a three-pointer and the next time the Celtics had the ball he lined up another one.
