Amar'e Stoudemire scored 39 points, marking the ninth straight game in which he broke the 30-point barrier. But that wasn't enough for the New York Knicks to overcome the reigning Eastern champion Boston Celtics, who rode 32 points from Paul Pierce in a 118-116 win at Madison Square Garden.
NBA Scores And More: Knicks Fall To Celtics In The Garden Despite Amar’e Stoudemire’s 39 Points
With the score tied at 116, Pierce nailed a fadeaway jumper over Stoudemire, giving Boston a two-point lead with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. That left the Knicks half a gasp; Amar’e proceeded to make the crowd gasp with excitement.
In case you didn’t make it all the way through the clip, the shot did not count; the clock expired a solid two-tenths of a second before Stoudemire released the ball. But should the Knicks have had more time to execute a play? Matt Moore of CBSSports.com broke down the timing of Pierce’s shot, and concluded that the Knicks should have had at least 0.6 seconds, and perhaps as much as 0.8 seconds, to get a shot off. With just 0.4 seconds, a tip is basically required -- catch-and-shoot is out, despite the Knicks’ decision to catch and shoot. But with 0.6 or 0.8, the playbook is a bit more open. As Moore notes, Boston would have defended Amar’e differently had there been more time on the clock.
The storylines from this game moving forward, other than New York’s resurgence and Boston’s penchant for dramatic wins, will be Rajon Rondo’s ankle and Nate Robinson’s face. Rondo had a bad ankle turn late in the game that sent him to the training room. He came back into the game a few minutes later, but these things have a tendency to come out worse after the ankle has a little time to swell up like a balloon.
Before the ankle scare, Rondo showed exactly why he’s leading the league in assists per game. Take a look at how open under the rim with the ball he is on this possession.
He passed the ball on this play. Seriously.
As for Nate Robinson’s face?
His jubilant faceplant left him no worse for the wear, even if he looked two inches from breaking his neck when he leaped over Pierce in celebration attempt following The Truth’s jumper.
- Celtics Blog breaks down the Paul Pierce game-winner. Posting and Toasting thinks the Amare Stoudemire three that didn’t count made everything worse than had Pierce just ended the game.
The Cavaliers may actually have a pulse. The Cavs played far better than they had when old friend LeBron James made a triumphant return to Cleveland, losing by six points instead of, like, a million. The Miami Heat won their 10th straight game; the previous nine wins had come by double-digits. Daniel Gibson, who had words with LeBron in that big Cavs-Heat showdown in C-Town on Dec. 2, sparked Cleveland with 26 points. He has, perhaps, been the biggest beneficiary of LeBron's decision; his scoring average has doubled to 13.7 points a game, largely because his shot attempt frequency has exploded.
Dwyane Wade needs no help right now. He scored 28 points on 10-18 shooting. Chris Bosh's string of solid rebounding games stopped (he had just four in 40 minutes), but King James picked up the slack and pulled down 13 to go with his 21 points and five assists.
- Peninsula is Mightier says that inconsistency from the Heat defense kept the Cavs in this game.
With the score tied 90-90 with 3.2 seconds, Manu Ginobili dribbled left, hopped into the air, looked for Matt Bonner back near the top of the key, realized Bonner was too busy playing his bango to bother getting open, landed, saw referee Scott Foster reach for his whistle, froze time and space, replaced Foster's whistle with a kazoo, retook position at the left elbow (now with 1.8 seconds left), and fired up a 17-footer. Swish, and game over.
What, you didn’t see all of that? Maybe you need to squint harder.
- Pounding The Rock reports that, despite Milwaukee’s injury-depleted bench, the Spurs’ starters were needed to save this game. Brew Hoop bemoans a great effort wasted.
Quick hits:
Lakers 109, Pacers 94: Andrwho Bynum? Lamar Odom had 13 points and 17 rebounds, still as a starter as Andrew Bynum comes back slowly. Kobe Bryant had 31, Pau Gasol had 28 and the Pacers fall to 11-13.
76ers 105, Clippers 91: Can we talk about Spencer Hawes, man? Bro had five blocks, four of them in the first two minutes of the game, three of those on Blake F. Griffin. Here are two of them.
Yes, Hawes blocked Griffin's first three shot attempts; from there, the Clippers' phenom went 6-13 for 20 points and 18 rebounds. But the Sixers, who are good (I promise!), held out.
Bulls 110, Raptors 93: Chicago held a going-away party for Joakim Noah, who will miss up to 10 weeks due to thumb surgery. The Bulls were up by 28 heading into the fourth quarter as Chicago's starting five just overwhelmed the Raptors all night. Andrea Bargnani sat with a sore knee, and rookie Ed Davis started next to Amir Johnson in an undersized line-up. Davis ended up with a double-double; Johnson didn't do much of anything. Carlos Boozer scored 34 points in 26 minutes.
Hornets 94, Kings 91: The Kings -- the Kings! -- were up by 23 points four minutes into the third quarter, largely because Tyreke Evans, playing through plantar fasciitis, had an awesome first half. The Hornets literally swarmed Evans in the second half, and the Kings had 10 turnovers in the final 20 minutes, four of them by rookie DeMarcus Cousins, three of those traveling calls in the fourth quarter. Chris Paul had 22 points and 11 assists, and Marcus Thornton actually got off the bench, scoring a very important 19 points to spark the comeback. The Hornets moved to 15-10 overall, and 10-3 at home.
Thunder 117, Rockets 105: Houston's defense is nowhere to be found. A night after allowing the Kings (!) to shoot above 50 percent, Oklahoma City gunned up a 58 percent shooting clip against the Rockets en route to a breezy win. Thabo Sefolosha was the game's top rebounder, with nine. Kevin Durant scored 32 points in 36 minutes, and he remains the NBA's top scorer.
Grizzlies 113, Bobcats 80: Charlotte's offense just cannot get anything going right now and, as you can tell from the "113" sitting next to the "Grizzlies" over there, the defense didn't handle business on Wednesday. O.J. Mayo exploded for 24 off the bench to pair with Rudy Gay's 23, and Memphis had no problems putting the Bobcats away. After four straight wins, the Grizzlies are up to 12-14.
Suns 128, Timberwolves 122: In the upset of the century, the Wolves are fun. Fun don't win games, though, and a loss to the Suns (also fun, for the record) stuck Minnesota at 6-20. Steve Nash had 19 assists, Jason Richardson had 29 points and Channing Frye hit seven three-pointers. Kevin Love had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Darko Milicic's march on Washington continued unabated with 16 points, and, in case you missed it, Martell Webster is back, which actually matters for this team. A final note: Phoenix's defense is just awful.
Mavericks 103, Blazers 98: LaMarcus Aldridge is a monster (35 points, 10 rebounds), Brandon Roy is making me really sad (four points in 30 minutes) and Dirk Nowitzki wants to wipe away our tears. Nowitzki had 12 points in the fourth quarter, making Portland's stirring 17-point comeback irrelevant. Aldridge was completely nuts in the fourth, scoring 20 and living up to those semi-frequent "poor man's Dirk" comparison from LMA's younger days.
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