Celtics Beat Knicks 96-93 Despite Carmelo Anthony’s 42

Carmelo Anthony starred and the New York Knicks showed more heart than anyone expected, but Kevin Garnett and the Boston Celtics survived it all. Boston won Game 2 on Tuesday night, and heads to New York with a 2-0 lead in the opening round NBA Playoffs series.

But a raw description of what happened doesn’t quite do it justice... The Knicks showed heart and the Celtics survived, yes, but Carmelo Anthony didn’t just “star” Tuesday night. He was THE star. He scored 42 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, and carried a Knicks team that had no business competing. And for 48 minutes, everything on the court orbited around him—even the Celtics, swarming him on defense—and Carmelo occupied a universe that’s only a dream to all but a handful of NBA players.

As Shakespeare or perhaps Ptolemy said, “To err is Jared Jeffries. That’s it. To err is Jared Jeffries.”

The New York Knicks were one basket away from knocking off the Boston Celtics on the road in Game 2 without Chauncey Billups and Amar’e Stoudemire. Carmelo Anthony, who is not of this world, was triple-teamed 25 feet from the basket, leaving Jeffries open underneath. ‘Melo made the pass and Jeffries, who had just hit a monster bucket over Kevin Garnett to swing the lead to the Knicks, received the pass. And then he did this (via @blazersedge).

But there were about 20 seconds left, and Garnett quickly answered by backing down Jeffries on the other end and sinking a running hook. The Knicks had 13 seconds to answer, down one point. ‘Melo received the ball and was swarmed; he hit Jeffries, seemingly unguarded under the rim. Slow to react, Jeffries allowed Garnett to rotate back down before attempting an interior pass to Walker. KG was able to deflect the ball, corral it and call a timeout before the Knicks fought in for a jumpball.

Game 3 of the series is Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Knicks’ defense has been painful to watch; had the Celtics not missed an inordinate number of open jumpers, Boston could have a substantial lead. Rondo ripped through the Knicks’ nonexistent transition defense regularly in the first quarter. New York made an effort to guard Rondo with a bigger player often in the second, but New York’s improved offense and a slower pace kept the Boston point guard under wraps (comparatively).

Once Rondo exited, Boston got back to bricking, letting New York hang around. Anthony finished the quarter with nine points on 3-7 shooting; running mate Amar’e Stoudemire missed all four of his attempts plus two free throws.

The New York Knicks and Boston Celtics square off in Boston tonight for Game 2 of their series, with the Celtics looking to take a 2-0 lead and gain control of the series for good. Hmm...

When have we heard that before?