Celtics Vs. Knicks, Game 1: Ray Allen Three Gives Boston 1-0 Series Lead

The New York Knicks haven’t won a playoff game in 10 years and haven’t won an NBA championship in almost 40, but for the first 24 minutes Sunday night, it was the Boston Celtics who looked like yesterday’s dynasty. Then the second half began, and we realized this tug of war for relevance would be more competitive.

After the Knicks shot 51 percent over the first two quarters to turn Boston fans into zombies and give themselves a 12-point cushion headed into halftime, the Celtics came out and held them to 13 points in the third quarter, giving themselves a chance going into the fourth. And that’s all Boston needed.

Meanwhile, over at CelticsBlog, they’re slightly more thrilled by the outcome, though “if the rest of the playoffs will be like this, I’m going to need a pacemaker, and one of those life alert necklaces.”

Keep an eye on Posting and Toasting as well as CelticsBlog for more updates, recap and analysis before Game Two.

Pretty great game -- hopefully more of this on the way in this series. The Knicks held a commanding lead halfway through, and will have a chance to try again Tuesday night.

New York couldn’t have asked for a much better second quarter. Not only did they take a 51-39 lead at the half over the Boston Celtics, but Carmelo Anthony had a big impact without picking up his third personal foul. Anthony and Amare Stoudemire head into halftime with 12 points each giving New York a solid one-two punch that has the Knicks thinking upset in game one.

Boston looked sluggish during the second quarter and their offense clearly wasn’t clicking on all cylinders. Rajon Rondo leads the way for the Celtics with 10 points but Chauncey Billups is sagging off cutting down on his driving lanes while daring him to shoot the jump shot and it is having a negative effect on the Boston offense. Paul Pierce scored just one point in the second quarter and goes into the half with nine points. A clear sign that Boston’s offense is struggling is that Ray Allen only attempted three shots in the first half of which he hit two scoring six points.

Mike D’Antoni has to be happy to only be trailing by one point after losing Carmelo Anthony to early four trouble just a minute into the game. Anthony picked up two quick fouls in the opening minutes of the first quarter and spent the remainder of the quarter on the bench for the Knicks.

Boston failed to capitalize as Bill Walker came off the bench to score seven points for the Knicks in Anthony’s absence. Amare Stoudemire has six for Knicks who trailed by one, 24-23 after one.

When Mike D’Antoni was preparing for game one against the Boston Celtics, I am sure it never entered his mind that he would be without Carmelo Anthony just one minute into the game. However, that was exactly what happened as Anthony picked up two quick fouls and has since headed to the bench presumably for the rest of the first quarter.

Bill Walker checked in for New York in Anthony’s place and promptly hit a three-point shot. Still that is not likely to be a trade that the Knicks will want to make over the course of the rest of this game. Without Anthony, even more offensive pressure will fall on the shoulders of Amare Stoudemire, who now will be relied upon to keep the Knicks close until Anthony returns.

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Game 1 begins at 7 p.m. ET on TNT. Be sure to check out our Celtics vs. Knicks hub for our full series preview. For more on the Celtics, visit CelticsBlog and SB Nation Boston. For more on the Knicks, visit Posting And Toasting and SB Nation New York.