Final, Knicks 88-80:

The Celtics stormed back from a 26-point deficit to put a scare into the Knicks late, but they finally ran out of gas after cutting the deficit to four points. In a game marked as much for the Knicks’ refusal to put the Celtics away as for anything, the Celtics’ bid to become the first team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit fell short.

There will be a lot to sort out after this game, but mostly remember the near-comeback and the rousing ovation Garnett received as he left the court, and the disappointing sendoff Pierce received.

Fourth quarter, 1:21, Knicks 87-75: It was fun while it lasted.

Finally, despite some wasted offensive possessions, the Knicks were able to put the ball in the hoop. They did it by going back to their bread and butter, a screen and roll with Felton and Anthony that left Bradley looking clueless once again. Anthony was freed up for a wide-open three, which he drained, and the wheels came off.

If this was the last stand of Pierce and Garnett, it was memorable, at least.

Fourth quarter, 2:54, Knicks 81-75: With Green taking the mantle from Garnett and Pierce, the Celtics are not letting go of the rope. Although a steal and layup by Shumpert ended a 20-0 Boston run, it was still a 20-0 Boston run. Bradley was even able to add a pick-off — his third of the game — and threw down a two-handed dunk to cut it to four points.

Anthony responded with a jumper over Bass, finally, but for the Knicks and their fans, this clock cannot tick away fast enough.

Fourth quarter, 5:44, Knicks 75-68: Wow. The Celtics will not die.

In less than three minutes, the Celtics have surged back to cut a 26-point lead to seven. Bradley is finally showing himself to be the defensive stopper he was supposed to be, and the Knicks are simply imploding. Anthony looks especially lost.

Fourth quarter, 8:49, Knicks 75-51: A lot of folks seem to be pretty convinced this is Garnett and Pierce’s last game. I am not so sure. Pierce, maybe. He is clearly not a $15 million player anymore, but Garnett is definitely an $11 million player, and he has a full two years left on his deal. Do not be surprised if both are back in green next season.

Also, it is hard to imagine either one wants to go out like this.

End of third quarter, Knicks 67-47: Try as they might, the Knicks will be hard-pressed to give this one away now. A triple by Shumpert gave the Knicks a 20-point advantage, their biggest lead of the game, after a series of Boston turnovers and New York missed shots.

The Celtics have 16 turnovers, but it feels like a billion. Pierce is having one of his worst “big” games in recent memory. He went for nine points on 4-for-18 shooting in Game 6 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, but this one might be worse.

Third quarter, 2:27, Knicks 61-47: Is it possible to be any weaker mentally than the Knicks? The Celtics are not playing well at all — that’s the understatement of the week — yet they are staying in this game off pure effort.

Meanwhile, the Knicks are doing their best to melt down. Felton dribbled to the hole, lost the ball out of bounds and promptly threw an elbow at Garnett, drawing a technical foul.

The Celtics have to be gassed, but they do not have much choice other than to go the rest of the way. Terry, Pierce, Green, Bass and Garnett might be the only lineup Rivers can trust.

Third quarter, 6:12, Knicks 53-42: No matter how badly the Celtics play, the Knicks refuse to put this game away. Anthony, who is playing with three fouls, might as well be on a milk carton while Green (2-for-8) and Pierce (2-for-12) keep misfiring.

Green managed to get the ball on the break, lose control of the ball and still toss in an awkward layup, just before Garnett rolled home his own awkward layup.

Neither team is going to win this game. One just will happen to not lose.

Third quarter, 9:58, Knicks 45-29: All right, maybe this one is not so manageable for the Celtics now. Felton continues to be Bradley’s kryptonite, dashing off a double screen and draining an 18-footer to extend New York’s lead. That marks four assists for Anthony.

Halftime, Knicks 39-27: There are the pyramids of Egypt, the hanging gardens of Babylon and now the first half of Game 6 of this series.

The Celtics managed to go a whole half with 27 points yet not be entirely out of the game. That qualifies as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

They shot an inconceivable 8-for-34, committed 10 turnovers and missed 10 of their 12 threes. Pierce is a 1-for-10 from the field with just two points more than you have. Green has attacked the hoop and has six free throws among his nine points, but he has hit just one shot not at the stripe. Aside from Garnett, who is 3-for-5, the Celtics’ starters have shot 3-for-24 from the floor.

The Knicks are having an ungodly time shooting as well, but they are holding a block party on defense. They have blocked six Boston shots, with Felton, Prigioni and even Jason Kidd notching a rejection.

Second quarter, 3:11, Knicks 34-24: Green is the one Celtic to start finding his rhythm on offense, and it all started by attacking the basket. He has earned three trips to the foul line, where he is 5-for-6, and he drilled a long 3-pointer as the shot clock expired. After the Celtics forced a Knicks miss, Green took the ball up court and found Terry for a three to pull the Celtics back within 10.

Second quarter, 6:36, Knicks 32-14: Lee did not take long to remind everyone why he has not been playing. Felton easily went by him for a layup, then Lee was whistled for a costly foul while Anthony attempted a jumper.

The bad part for the Celtics is, Lee was not alone. Pierce is now a cool 1-for-10 from the field and has apparently forgotten how to dribble. Bradley continues to be exposed, and Bass and Green are each 0-for-3. The boo birds have come out early at the Garden, which was rocking an hour ago.

Second quarter, 10:18, Knicks 24-14: Believe it or not, Lee and Williams are actually doing some positive things for the Celtics. Lee missed his first shot, a corner three, but Williams outjumped three Knicks for the offensive rebound.

The Celtics were not able to do anything with that extra possession, but the Knicks kept giving them extra chances. After a forced turnover, Lee dribbled up the court and hit Terry with a bounce pass for a layup to cut New York’s lead to 10.

End of first quarter, Knicks 24-10: Well, now. This is different.

Apparently employing the time-honored “miss tons of shots and play everybody,” the Celtics shot 4-for-16 in the first quarter while using nine players. That is two players more than they used in Game 5. Courtney Lee and Jordan Crawford, who have had to call in favors to make it off the bench in much of this series, even made appearances.

The Celtics are on pace for 40 points, which probably will not be enough to win the game. Prigioni is almost outscoring them by himself with nine points. He also has two assists and five rebounds. The Celtics have three assists and eight rebounds.

Yyyyyeah …

First quarter, 2:44, Knicks 21-8: Things are not going well for the Celtics, but you would not know it by listening to the crowd. The Garden fans loudly chanted “Hon-ey Nut Chee-rios” after Anthony picked up his second foul, trying to contest a jumper by Bass.

The Celtics’ energy has not let up. Their shots simply are not falling. They now are just 3-for-12 from the field, with Pierce a putrid 1-for-8.

First quarter, 6:28, Knicks 13-4: If this game is anything like the last one, the Celtics have the Knicks right where they want them.

The Celtics have looked slow and out of step in the first six minutes, misfiring on four of their six shots and committing three turnovers. As much as everyone has criticized the Knicks for playing hero ball with Anthony and J.R. Smith, the Celtics are making a concerted effort to go to Pierce, who has a mismatch against Felton.

That may sound good on paper, but Pierce is just 1-for-4 and has forced some off-balance shots. Even with Pierce matched up against a smaller, inferior defender, ball movement is still the key to the Celtics being successful on offense.

7:09 p.m.: The night’s proceedings began with a video montage, which included Kevin Millar’s famous “don’t let us win this game” quote, footage of the 2004 Red Sox’ comeback and ample shots at the Knicks for wearing black to Game 5.

It continued with a stirring anthem by Justin Waithe, as usual, and ended with a fired-up crowd’s response for the starting lineups. There is a much smaller Knicks presence in the stands than there was for Game 4, for some reason.

6:28 p.m.: The Celtics are back in the friendly confines of “The Jungle,” as Kevin Garnett calls TD Garden, and this time around we will assume most Celtics fans did not resell their tickets. That appeared to be the case in Game 4, when a heavily pro-Knicks crowd made the Garden feel like that other Garden in Manhattan.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers welcomes the return home, with a warning.

“They’ve been great,” Rivers said. “They’ve been great, but listen, I told our guys, we can’t lean on that. We have to supply the energy. We can’t think that just because we’re here now, we can let our guard down. We’re playing a really good team and an extremely talented team. We have to do more to win it, in my opinion.”

The projected starters appear below.

Knicks
Tyson Chandler
Carmelo Anthony
Iman Shumpert
Pablo Prigioni
Raymond Felton

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

5:22 p.m.: One of the quickest ways for the Knicks to put away the Celtics in Game 6 is to get hot from outside, drain a lot of 3-pointers early and force the Celtics to claw back from a huge deficit.

That still might happen, but the Celtics have one less long-range shooter to worry about.

Steve Novak, who has battled back spasms, was placed on the inactive list shortly before the game. Earl Barron, a veteran center out of Memphis, replaces him on the roster.

The Knicks have activated Earl Barron and placed Steve Novak on the Inactive List.

—
  (@NY_KnicksPR) May 03, 2013

Novak has been limited to just 8.4 minutes per game in the series and has taken six threes in five games.

8 a.m. ET: History is just 96 minutes away.

No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, but this series suddenly has a different tenor. The Celtics seized the momentum from the Knicks, who won the first three games, by winning Games 4 and 5 behind strong performances by Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry. Now the Knicks seem worried, and for good reason. If the Celtics win at home on Friday, they force a Game 7 in New York with all the pressure on the Knicks.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers has juggled his rotations throughout the series as he has sought the right combination. He may have found some options he likes after Game 5, when Terrence Williams played 17 minutes off the bench and Brandon Bass delivered a gusty effort on both ends of the court.

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden during the game, which tips off at 7 p.m. ET.

Despite the Knicks wearing black to the arena to mark the Celtics’ impending demise, Brandon Bass and the Celtics survived to force a Game 6. They are shipping up to Boston.

Bass’ defense on Carmelo Anthony and Terrence Williams’ defense on Raymond Felton helped fluster the Knicks, who shot just 38 percent from the field. Anthony and Felton each had more than 20 points, but they were forced to do it so inefficiently that it hamstrung the rest of New York’s offense.

Jeff Green led the Celtics with 18 points, including two dagger 3-pointers in the fourth quarter just as Paul Pierce and Jason Terry began to struggle. Kevin Garnett was immense as well, notching 16 points, 18 rebounds, two blocks and five assists in the victory.

Fourth quarter, :48.3, Celtics 90-83: Garnett may have just bailed out his fellow Hall of Fame teammate. With the shot clock winding down, Garnett pump-faked Chandler out of his high-tops and netted a 20-foot jumper to give Boston some breathing room.

The Celtics are doing this without a point guard, making it very difficult for them to bring the ball up the court and run their offense. They are simply surviving because they have so many veteran shot-makers.

Fourth quarter, 1:05, Celtics 88-83: Pierce is a future Hall of Famer and an all-time Celtic, but sometimes…

With the Knicks needing a quick three, and only a quick three, to keep their hopes alive, Pierce hung back on defense and just let Smith walk up and drill a much-needed three.

Rivers, understandably livid, called a quick timeout, hopefully to knock some sense into his captain.

Fourth quarter, 2:23, Celtics 88-76: With the lead dwindling and Pierce struggling, the Celtics needed Green to step up. He did.

After Pierce was whistled for an offensive foul, Green delivered two threes sandwiched around a triple by Smith. The Celtics are clinging to a lead that seems much smaller than the 12-point one it actually is. They survived a brief rest for Garnett, and Bass is still blanketing Anthony.

Fourth quarter, 5:57, Celtics 75-65: The Celtics still lead, but this is tension time for them. The Knicks came back with consecutive baskets after the Celtics took their largest lead of the game, and now the Celtics have not scored in more than three minutes.

Terrence Williams was huge for the Celtics, filling in for Bradley and actually helping slow down the Knicks’ pick and roll to an extent. Now it is up to Terry, Pierce and the rest to bring it home.

Fourth quarter, 9:04, Celtics 75-60: Uh, oh. Green dashed down the lane, shook off a defender and threw down a dunk over Anthony, and the Celtics now lead by 15.

If somebody on the Celtics breaks out a bloody sock, start to worry, New York.

Fourth quarter, 11:06, Celtics 69-60: Well, this could be terrible news for the Knicks. Anthony and Garnett got tangled up, and Garnett appeared to yank Anthony’s left arm. Anthony came up favoring his left arm or shoulder, grimacing in pain, but he stays in the game.

End of third quarter, Celtics 69-60: Twelve more minutes and the story continues.

After a blistering third quarter for Pierce and Terry, who combined to shoot 7-for-10 from the field (Terry was a perfect 3-for-3), the Celtics are just 12 minutes from heading back to Boston for a Game 6. Maybe the “bad” quarter they have been doomed to have in every game this series was the first quarter.

Pierce and Terry scored 18 of the Celtics’ 24 points in the quarter as their team just kept feeding them. By contrast, Felton gashed the Celtics on the pick and roll — he had eight points, primarily off that play — but the Knicks inexplicably kept going back to what was not working. Anthony was a “perfect” 0-for-4 in the third and is one for his last 11 shots.

Third quarter, 2:48, Celtics 66-60: Pierce has that look about him. You know the look: the one that says he does not feel like losing this basketball game.

Pierce is 4-for-6 from the field since his clunker of a first half, while Terry has kept giving the Celtics exactly the type of timely jumpers they need. At the same time, Garnett is lively in the post. He already has 13 boards and two blocked shots.

The only blemish on the Celtics’ resume is their pick-and-roll defense. It got so bad that Rivers yanked Bradley, who has been unable to navigate Chandler and Martin’s picks all series. The only way the Celtics really slow it down is when the Knicks go away from it themselves with isolation plays for Anthony.

Third quarter, 5:59, Celtics 56-54: Pierce is back. Unfortunately for the Celtics, so is Felton.

With Anthony hardly touching the ball, Felton and Chandler executed the pick and roll with all the perfection they have all season. They generated three baskets using just that simple play, forcing Garnett and the Celtics’ guards to scramble.

Pierce has started the second half by hitting a three and a pull-up jumper, but offense is not the Celtics’ issue. They need to figure out a way to stifle Felton’s penetration off the pick and roll. So far Bradley has been ineffective, so the Celtics may have to find the answer elsewhere.

Halftime, Celtics 45-39: Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass and the Celtics are not going to go quietly.

Since their awful start, the Celtics have outscored the Knicks 45-30 and own a six-point lead at halftime. With Bass leading the defense, Anthony scored just two points in the second quarter. Terry, who was consistently booed whenever he touched the ball in the first half, drained a three and ran back up court doing his “JET” celebration thingy.

That the Knicks tossed UMass alum Marcus Camby, who sat out the first four games with plantar fasciitis, stinks of desperation. Remember, though, that the Celtics have held leads at halftime in three of the previous four games, and they lost two of those three.

Second quarter, 5:02, Knicks 35-34: Pierce is finally hitting shots, which is good for the Celtics.

Where else can you get crack analysis like that?

Pierce finally dropped his first shot, a three from the wing, with about seven minutes to go in the second quarter. He added another about a minute later to give Boston its first lead at 34-33 and make him 2-for-9 from the field.

Hey, he’s got to start somewhere.

Second quarter, 8:14, Knicks 28-26: We all know about the Celtics’ troubles when Garnett takes a seat. Now we have to see how they react to Bass sitting down.

With Bass on the bench, the task of defending Anthony falls to Green. Green did a decent job of forcing Anthony to miss a contested layup, but he and Garnett could not box out Chandler for the offensive rebound. Chandler found Anthony for a corner jumper to recapture the lead for New York.

Before that, there was a moment of chippiness between Garnett and Kenyon Martin. As Martin went to block KG’s shot, he caught some of Garnett’s arm and the Big Ticket went down like a ton of bricks. It was initially called a flagrant, but upon review it was rightly called a regular foul. Still, that is the type of play we can expect here. Martin already has three fouls, putting him in the sort of foul trouble Garnett is used to carrying around in this series. (Garnett has zero.)

Pierce continues to struggle, meanwhile. He is 0-of-6 from the field and scoreless.

End of first quarter, Knicks 22-20: For as terrible as the Celtics looked at the outset, it is a minor miracle that they are only down by two points.

The Celtics shot just 6-for-18 from the field while the Knicks hit exactly half of their 18 attempts, but the Celtics were able to get to the line, where they were 7-for-7. That aggressiveness — when it occurred — has helped keep them in the game.

As much as we have raved about Bass, it should be noted that Anthony has 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting. But those shots are coming with difficulty, after plenty of seconds wasted off the shot clock. The Celtics will take those attempts, as they did in Game 4, every time.

First quarter, 2:31, Knicks 19-16: Bass had better get ready for a long night, because at this rate the Celtics cannot afford to take him off the court. He has been their best player by far, not only blanketing Anthony on defense but also scoring six of Boston’s first nine points.

Jason Terry, who entered the game to catcalls, also contributed with a three. They helped the Celtics outscore New York 16-10 since the Knicks’ 9-0 start, although the Celtics’ offense is still slow and easy to predict. The Celtics are walking the ball up the court and settling for jump shots, with the exception of Bass.

First quarter, 8:14, Knicks 9-0: The Celtics’ quest for survival is not off to a great start.

The Celtics have missed their first five shots while the Knicks, spurred on by Anthony’s two free throws after a rip-through foul (which is not supposed to bring free throws anymore), sprinted out to the early lead. It could be even worse if Prigioni were not such a reluctant shooter.

Pierce basically dared Prigioni, a 40-percent shooter on 3-pointers, to fire away from deep on back-to-back possessions. Prigioni missed the first but hit the second. He then turned down a wide-open layup to pull the ball out and reset the offense.

This is not the start the Celtics were looking for. The only positive is that, once again, Bass’ defense on Anthony has been superb. ‘Melo has not even been able to get a shot off yet.

5:54 p.m.: The Knicks reportedly arrive at Madison Square Garden dressed all in black. No, they are not all doing their best Walt Frazier impressions. They are dressed for a funeral — the Celtics’ funeral.

The standard phrase in this type of situation is to “go big or go home.” The Celtics have chosen to “go big,” at least with their starting lineup. Doc Rivers will trot out his usual “big” lineup with Paul Pierce at the two and Jeff Green at the three.

Check out the starters below.

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

Knicks
Tyson Chandler
Carmelo Anthony
Iman Shumpert
Pablo Prigioni
Raymond Felton

5:28 p.m.: Get ready for what could be Paul Pierce’s final game in a Celtics uniform.

Pierce, who has played for only one team in his 15-year career, would play out the last year of his contract, if it were up to him. It is not — not entirely.

The Celtics hold a $5 million buyout option this summer on his $15 million contract for the 2013-14 season. If the Celtics exercised the option, it would give them quite a bit of payroll money to play with. But it would also rid them of a franchise icon.

“You know, truthfully, I haven’t put too much thought into it,” Pierce told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. “I mean, the organization’s going to do what they’re going to do. It’s nothing that’s stressing me out. I mean, that’s the way it is. Every year, they’ve got decisions to make, and those are their decisions, so I leave it to them.

Either way, there is at least one more game left in the Pierce era in Boston. The Celtics will try to make sure that era does not end Wednesday.

8 a.m. ET: The Celtics avoided the sweep. Next up, they see if they can make history.

Thanks to Jason Terry’s nine points in overtime, the Celtics survived a Game 4 nail-biter to earn a Game 5 in New York on Wednesday. To get to a Game 6 back in Boston, the Celtics will need to pull off another upset.

Only this time, the Knicks have J.R. Smith. Oh yeah, and no NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit.

Smith will be back in uniform for the Knicks in Game 5 after serving his one-game suspension for intentionally elbowing Terry in the face in the fourth quarter of Boston’s loss in Game 3. Smith declared that this series would be over if he had not been suspended, but he was, and it is not. So, there.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 7 p.m. ET.

Final, Celtics 97-90:

The Celtics overcame a huge performance by Raymond Felton, who had 27 points and was red-hot late as well. The Knicks just went to the well with Carmelo Anthony too often. Anthony had 36 points, but he was just 10-for-35 from the field and 4-for-14 in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Overtime, :28.8, Celtics 93-90: The clutch player the Celtics have been waiting for Terry to be has finally arrived, in overtime of an elimination game.

Terry has scored the last five points for the Celtics to give them a three-point lead. Pierce began the overtime taking a few too many hero-ball shots, but Garnett brought things back to ground with a long jumper. Then Terry took over from there, and the Celtics might actually scrape this one out.

End of regulation, game tied 84-84: Overtime, here we come.

The Celtics got the switch they wanted when Chandler was forced to come out to the 3-point line to defend Pierce. Pierce even got a decent, contested look at the game winner, but he missed off the front iron.

Upon further review, the officials determined there was 0.4 seconds on the clock, leaving enough time for a tap-in play. The Celtics broke down and actually let Chandler get free at the hoop, but Kidd, the inbounder, missed it. Wilcox tipped away Kidd’s attempted pass to someone else to protect the tie.

The rest of the Celtics season will last at least another five minutes.

Fourth quarter, :18, game tied 84-84: Garnett, again. The Big Ticket collected the ball after Pierce passed out of a double-team and cashed in an 18-footer to tie it up. The Knicks then went back to Anthony, who missed again, twice, making him oh-fer his last six shots, counting the free throws.

Fourth quarter, 1:18, Knicks 84-82: Anthony, never known for being particularly clutch, is coughing up again. He has missed his last two shots, both gimme jumpers, plus he just muffed a pair of free throws.

Fortunately for New York, Felton is still hot. He dribbled off a screen and drained a jumper.

Copy and paste that previous sentence in a Word document about 1,000 times, and you will have the story of this series.

Fourth quarter, 2:17, game tied 82-82: If your den is painted green and adorned with framed Larry Bird jerseys on the walls, this does not look good.

The Knicks have battled back to tie it up again, getting a clutch corner three by Shumpert and a driving layup by Anthony, who split two defenders and banked in a shot over Terry. Now the Knicks have control again, with Shumpert tracking down an offensive rebound, giving the Knicks another play after this timeout.

Oh yeah, and Bass finally fouled out. So, there’s that.

Fourth quarter, 4:56, Celtics 78-76: If anybody should want an early vacation, it is the 36-year-old Garnett. But he is not playing like it. As soon as the Knicks knotted the score on a pickpocket steal and layup by Shumpert, the Celtics went to Garnett in the post and he delivered with a right-handed hook shot.

The biggest issue for the Celtics now is just getting the ball upcourt to run their offense. The Knicks tapped the ball away at the point of attack on back-to-back Celtics possessions, making for an embarrassing look for the Celtics. They just cannot get into their sets. Think they are still better without Rajon Rondo?

Fourth quarter, 7:59, Celtics 74-69: Pierce and Green are each working on scoring totals in the mid-20s to 30s, but the story of this game, as with the series, is Bass’ play.

The natural power forward keeps causing problems for Anthony defensively. He is nimble enough to keep with the quick-footed Anthony and too strong for Anthony to bully. Bass knocked the ball away from Anthony on a drive attempt, helping the Celtics extend their lead to five. The Celtics may not survive, but it won’t be because Bass did not give them enough.

End of third quarter, Celtics 68-65: Felton will not be denied.

In a matchup that was supposed to favor Boston, Felton is absolutely schooling Bradley. And this is the fourth straight game in which he has done so.

Felton scored 16 points in the third quarter, capping it off with a 28-footer that he put up without any doubt it was going in. The Celtics, who led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, are reeling.

Third quarter, 2:40, Celtics 65-55: Chip, chip, chip. Despite some odd calls that went the Celtics’ way, the Knicks keeping chipping away at the lead in a testy third quarter. Felton has hit a few massive threes, including one just a moment ago to cut Boston’s lead to 10 points.

The Knicks are taking tons of threes and pouncing on the long rebounds when they miss. The Knicks now have 10 offensive boards, nearly three times as many as the Celtics, who will have a hard time continuing to contain Anthony now that Bass has his fifth foul.

Anthony and Chandler each have four fouls, too. Getting those two in further foul trouble should be the Celtics’ top priority now.

Third quarter, 6:44, Celtics 59-47: Here they come. The run we all knew the Knicks had in them is in progress, as they have outscored the Celtics 12-5 to begin the second half.

The Celtics’ offense is getting into one of its funks, while things are starting to get physical. Garnett went to the bench with foul No. 4, while Green and Bass joined him with four each. The Celtics already have two second-half meltdowns on their resume in this series. Do bad things really come in threes?

Halftime, Celtics 54-35: It goes without saying that getting a big halftime lead is the best-case scenario for the Celtics. If they get ahead by enough, the Knicks might decide it’s not worth it to expend the energy for a comeback and call it a day early to look forward to Game 5.

The Celtics closed the first half on a 19-7 run to take their biggest halftime lead of the series. The lead grew even though Garnett and Green were on the bench for the last two minutes. Terry is playing well, surprisingly, hitting a pull-up jumper with one-tenth of a second on the clock. He also drove and dished to Bass a few minutes earlier for a baseline jumper.

Pierce and Green are humming along after shaky starts, checking in with 17 points and 15 points, respectively. Anthony is having a night to forget so far, with 16 points largely coming at the free throw line. He is 3-for-15 from the field and 10-for-11 from the line.

The Knicks are an atrocious 11-for-38 from the field. Smith’s absence certainly impacts that, but it cannot be the only reason the Knicks could not hit the broad side of a barn. The Celtics have contended better with the pick and roll than they have all series, plus the Knicks have helped out by going 2-for-10 from deep.

Second quarter, 2:04, Celtics 42-30: When Garnett went out, Green picked up the slack. Now the Celtics see if someone else can pick up the slack for Green, who also goes to the bench with three fouls.

Green is playing one of his most emotional games as a Celtic, driving to the hoop and drawing all sorts of contact. After one physical drive, his momentum took him into the crowd and he yelled at the fans, bringing out a brief ovation. Green now has 15 points, but the Celtics are going to need to survive the final minutes of the first half without both him and Garnett.

Second quarter, 5:51, Celtics 35-26: This officiating crew is not having its best game. Green almost had a conniption when he was whistled for a loose-ball foul as Pierce hauled in a rebound, on a play that looked like it was initiated by Chandler. Then they made an extremely late charging call on Anthony, bringing confused looks from several players on both teams.

In basketball-related news, Garnett picked up his third foul and needed to go to the bench. That has not been good news for the Celtics lately. Let’s see how they fare without him this time.

Second quarter, 8:51, Celtics 30-17: Forgive us for not sharing the crowd’s enthusiasm after Terry tossed a perfect alley-oop pass to Garnett for a slam. The Celtics have pushed their lead to a game-high 13 points, but they are doing it with Richardson on the floor.

Smith’s absence might be hurting the Knicks, but even if the Celtics lose this game, Smith will be back for Game 5. That means 16 points worth of bench scoring and an immediate cure to New York’s rotation problems right now.

But, hey, dunks!

End of first quarter, Celtics 22-17: It is nice that Terry is egging on the crowd, but the best way to get the fans into the game would be for him to hit a few shots.

He did drain a sweet crossover step-back jumper over Anthony, but then he and Bradley — who may be the Celtics’ worst player in the series thus far — could not hook up on what should have been a sure layup for Bradley.

Pierce has seven points, tying Anthony for the game high, but do not be very impressed with that stat. Pierce has given up at least that many points with his utter failure to play any sort of defense or box out. Kidd, 39, nearly out-jumped Pierce for an offensive rebound after Pierce just kind of drifted after a Knicks miss.

First quarter, 2:56, Celtics 18-12: As strong as the Celtics’ start was, they lead by just six points, and their offense has gotten back to the disjointed look that doomed them in the first three games. To make matters worse, Pierce just sort of looked at Steve Novak when the Knicks sharpshooter set up at the top of the key.

Novak, as he does, bottomed out the 3-pointer. If there is one rule the Celtics should follow in this series, it is not to leave Novak. Chalk that up as one of many oversights for them in the playoffs.

First quarter, 6:24, Celtics 12-5: For the third time in four tries, the Celtics are off to a hot start against the Knicks. They hit four of their first six shots, and though they cooled down a bit since, the Knicks continue to misfire.

The Celtics are playing decent defense, but the Knicks’ struggles have more to do with simple missed shots than anything the Celtics are doing. The Celtics have blanketed Anthony and shut down New York’s pick and roll so far, but Shumpert and Felton also missed wide-open jump shots that would have made this score look much different.

12:37 p.m.: Both the Celtics and Lakers are trying to fend off sweeps on Sunday, an embarrassing state for both proud franchises.

I did some digging around and found that the Celtics and Lakers have never been swept out of the first round in the same year. The last time — and only time, from what I can tell — that both teams have been swept out of the playoffs in the same year is 1983, when the Celtics got the broom in the conference semis and the Lakers got bounced in the Finals by the Sixers.

12:10 p.m.: The one-game experiment of Jason Terry in the starting lineup is over. Brandon Bass, who safely could be called the Celtics’ best player in the first two games of the series, is back in the starting lineup after coming off the bench in Game 3.

The rest of the projected starters are below.

Knicks
Tyson Chandler
Carmelo Anthony
Iman Shumpert
Pablo Prigioni
Raymond Felton

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

11:50 a.m.: Not having J.R. Smith will affect the Knicks, but just how much is debatable. The Knicks have gotten plenty of production from the rest of their role players and reserves so far, so there is little reason to believe Smith’s absence will hamstring New York too much.

Knicks coach Mike Woodson declined to comment on Smith’s suspension prior to the game, but he did not seem very concerned with losing the reigning Sixth Man of the Year for one game.

“Next guy up,” Woodson said. “We’ve got James White, Quentin Richardson. [Chris Copeland's] still sitting over there. We’ll shuffle our lineup and go from there.”

Woodseon and Celtics coach Doc Rivers have played a game of one-upmanship to see who can tell the most half-truths to the media, but that one by Woody might take the cake. Everybody in the building would be shocked if White or Richardson played a major role in Game 4, including White and Richardson.

Based on how the Knicks have gone forward this year when they have had injuries or other absences to key players, expect the Knicks to go with more two-point guard looks with Jason Kidd, Pablo Prigioni and Raymond Felton. Also look for Iman Shumpert, who has played a lot of the three in this series, to possibly get some more minutes at shooting guard with Steve Novak taking off at the wing forward.

8 a.m. ET: The Celtics have put themselves in this situation. By failing to put together 48 minutes of solid basketball in any of the first three games of this series, the Celtics are left with a must-win Game 4 on Sunday against the Knicks.

Lose, and the summer starts early. Win, and they play again in a Game 5 on Wednesday and improve their chances of winning this series from none to slim.

J.R. Smith will not be a part of the action, as the Knicks guard was suspended a game by the NBA for intentionally elbowing Jason Terry in the face in the fourth quarter of Game 3. If the Knicks keep playing like they have been, Smith will have the best seat in the house to watch his team knock out the Celtics.

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden during the game, which tips off at 1 p.m. ET.

Final, Knicks 90-76:

Carmelo Anthony scored 26 points on an efficient 12-for-25 shooting and Raymond Felton tore apart Avery Bradley and the Celtics defense to the tune of 15 points and 10 assists as the Knicks to a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Knicks shot 50 percent overall and 41 percent from deep in beating the Celtics both inside and out.

Jeff Green scored 21 points and had nine rebounds for the Celtics, who now must win Sunday to keep their season alive. Kevin Garnett had 12 points and 17 rebounds, but at no point did it feel like he was one of the best players on the floor.

Fourth quarter, 5:43, Knicks 82-66: Smith’s ejection got the crowd into it, but Anthony quickly silenced the “DE-FENSE” chants with an easy-looking midrange jumper. The Celtics are not coming back, folks, no matter what you may want to believe. See you Sunday, and if things keep going like this, that will be all for the Celtics this year.

Fourth quarter, 7:06, Knicks 78-59: This probably will end up being a rousing win for the Knicks, but Smith will not be around to enjoy it. Isolated against Terry on the right baseline, Smith swung his elbows directly into Terry’s jaw for a flagrant-two, which comes with an automatic ejection.

Fourth quarter, 10:13, Knicks 73-54: Wherever Green’s head is at, it is not here. He started out by just holding the ball as the Knicks descended with a double-team, forcing him to throw the ball into the backcourt. Then he failed to stay close to Steve Novak setting up in the corner in transition, leaving one of the league’s best shooters open for a back-breaking three.

The worst part of it is, there is at least one more game left in this series.

End of third quarter, Knicks 68-52: And of course, Crawford ends the quarter by missing a 27-footer.

With Garnett taking a loooong extended rest, the Celtics stayed within 16 points, so that’s something. They actually scored more than 20 points in a quarter for the first time in this game, checking in with a cool 21. Anthony has 22 points all by himself.

Pierce finally started to get something going (he was 4-for-5 in the quarter) and Green got aggressive, and these fans are desperately clinging to the hope there is a big comeback awaiting their guys. If there is, it would take a massive turnaround in energy, intensity and focus. Currently, there is none.

Third quarter, 4:57, Knicks 56-40: The shots are not falling, and now the Celtics are starting to let it affect their defense as well. Too many heads are sagging after each missed shot, as Anthony continues to drain jumpers and Felton keeps getting to the cup whenever and however he pleases. Pierce is 3-for-4 in the quarter, but all that has accomplished is keeping the Celtics from dropping behind even farther.

The boos are getting louder now, especially when Terry misses. He is now 1-for-3 from deep, and the crowd is letting him hear about it.

Halftime, Knicks 47-31: The honeymoon is over in Boston. The kumbaya vibes did not take long to evaporate, and the fans booed the Celtics as they left the court after scoring 31 points in the first half.

Yup, 31 points.

The Celtics have had some tough halves in this series, but so far they have gone with strong starts and bad finishes. Maybe they plan on flipping the script. Either way, they need to change something or else they will be in for an early summer, starting Sunday evening.

Anthony has 12 points, leading the way for what has been an all-around dominant performance for the Knicks. Felton has seven points and five assists, and he is even playing defense, which is different. Green has nine points to lead the Celtics while Garnett is just a basket away from a double-double, with eight points and 10 rebounds, but as long as Pierce keeps raining bricks and turnovers — he is 2-for-10 overall and 0-for-3 from deep so far — the Celtics will need a herculean performance from someone else.

Second quarter, 2:12, Knicks 42-29: Pierce just has not looked like himself, which makes roughly six out of the 10 quarters in the series when he has really struggled.

Pierce is 2-for-9 from the field with three turnovers. He is even having trouble handling the ball, leading to some awkward-looking possessions — even more awkward than his usual possessions.

Meanwhile, Melo is heating up. He delivered a turnaround jumper on the baseline over Terry, extending New York’s lead to 13 points, its largest of the night.

Second quarter, 5:28, Knicks 36-25: The Celtics definitely looked like they were making things interesting for a while. Then they subbed Bradley and Terry in for Crawford and Lee and things went sour.

The Knicks are on a 10-2 run and the Celtics are back to looking lazy on defense. They keep getting drawn in by the Knicks’ dribble penetration, but instead of scrambling out, closing out and contesting the threes, they are jumping and flying by while the Knicks just pump fake and easily dribble past.

Second quarter, 8:45, Knicks 26-23: The video montages that are playing during each stoppage may be inspiring the Celtics. They have opened the second quarter strong, pushing the pace and pressuring the Knicks on defense. They got some luck — like Jordan Crawford’s 26-footer as the shot clock expired — but it is luck of their own making.

End of first quarter, Knicks 23-18: Something has gotten into Bass on defense. Whatever it is, the Celtics will take it. He is absolutely blanketing Anthony, helping hold the league’s scoring champ to 2-for-7 shooting in the opening quarter.

Across the way, Pierce is having an even rougher time. Pierce is just 1-for-6 from the field and is basically taking plays off defensively. He has yet to box out a soul, enabling Shumpert to get two offensive rebounds early.

The Bass-Green-Lee combo will need to do big things for the Celtics if Bradley and Pierce keep underperforming. Green stepped up in rhythm and swished a three, which bodes well for the Celtics given what Bass and Lee have already done.

First quarter, 1:27, Knicks 23-16: At the 4:43 mark, Bass made his first appearance, replacing Garnett off the bench. He immediately knocked the ball away from Felton, who was driving to the hole, showing just what an impact Bass has had defensively in this series.

About a minute later, at the 3:50 mark, Courtney Lee checked in. Lee’s playing time has been decreased dramatically in the playoffs, but he hit a pull-up jumper fresh of the bench to start a little run for the Celtics to pull within seven points.

First quarter, 4:49, Knicks 15-9: What has happened to Bradley? The so-called “best perimeter defender in the NBA” has looked flat-footed against Felton, a decent pick-and-roll point guard but not someone who should leave any defender, much less a very good one, in his dust so consistently.

Bradley has looked bad at both ends in this series, and moving Terry into the starting lineup with him has not done much to help. The Knicks, who feed off their offense, already have three 3-pointers on drive-and-kicks. That has boosted them on defense, where they have held the Celtics to four buckets in 14 attempts.

8:12 p.m.: Nope, no error here. Terry really is starting, and he is starting in place of Bass.

That is sort of an odd move given how well Bass has played in this series. He has been the Celtics’ most consistent player, yet he will start Game 3 on the bench. Let’s see if Rivers’ roll of the dice pays off.

7:46 p.m.: Here is an interesting development. Jason Terry is listed as a starter on the scoreboard, but Rivers told us less than an hour ago that there were no changes to the starting lineup.

We will see if Rivers was lying to us or if there was some kind of communication error.

7:31 p.m.: Without citing any names, Rivers admitted in his pregame media availability that he needs to figure out a way to “relieve pressure” on certain members of his team.

He left it open to the reporters in attendance to speculate who he was talking about — always a risky move — but there is little mystery that Avery Bradley has struggled in his first playoff action as a point guard.

“I don’t mind the pressure on Paul [Pierce], honestly, but I want to take pressure off a couple other guys,” Rivers said. “Some guys, we’re just asking them to do things they can’t do, and we’ve got to relieve the pressure from them. Paul actually likes pressure. He doesn’t mind, [neither does] Carmelo. They don’t mind. That’s what they do. That’s why they make all that money.

“But we’re asking other guys right now to do way too much. We don’t have a lot of choices in the matter but we can add more guards on the floor at times with them. I just think it’s too much honestly. We have to figure out a way to relieve the pressure.”

The projected starters appear below.

Knicks
Tyson Chandler
Carmelo Anthony
Iman Shumpert
Pablo Prigioni
Raymond Felton

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

6:19 p.m.: There is a buzz around North Station as we near tip-off. Fans heading into the Garden for Game 3 are being given “Boston Strong” T-shirts and a ceremony will be held between the first and second quarter recognizing those who assisted victims in the aftermath of last week’s marathon bombing. Also expect a moment of silence just before the national anthem.

8 a.m. ET: Welcome back, Celtics.

After more than two weeks without a home game, the Celtics take the court at TD Garden on Friday for something very close to a must-win game. Trailing the Knicks 2-0 in their best-of-seven series in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Celtics need a win or they can start making their early-summer plans immediately.

The Celtics are expecting an emotional night from the Boston fans, who have not had a chance to cheer on their team since last week’s events. Doc Rivers praised the fan base at practice on Thursday, saying “there’s no better crowd in sports than this city.” He will be counting on them to inspire his team to a victory in Game 3.

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden during the game, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

Final, Knicks 87-71:

They almost did in Game 2.

Behind 34 points scored by Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks lit it up on offense and shut down the Celtics on defense to take a 2-0 series lead. The Knicks held the Celtics to 23 points on 19 percent shooting — seriously, NINETEEN PERCENT — to run away from the Celtics once again down the stretch.

The Celtics got 18 points from Paul Pierce and 12 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks from Kevin Garnett, but both players dealt with foul trouble. They each finished with five personal fouls, limiting their aggressiveness on both ends of the court.

Fourth quarter, 6:10, Knicks 84-69: Of all the things Mike Woodson has accomplished this season, reining in Garnett in the first two games of this series is among his greatest achievements.

Garnett has a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, plus two blocks, but he has had a rough time here. He was sent to the bench with five fouls, which would help as a quick rest but he may not even be needed at this point. The Knicks do not look like they are letting this one slip away.

Fourth quarter, 9:15, Knicks 76-67: Jordan Crawford is the type of guy who can shoot his team back into a game, and he is trying to now. A couple baskets by the Xavier product, who has five of Boston’s last eight points, has the Celtics within nine with nine minutes to go.

Remember, this has been a game of runs. It remains to be seen whether this is the start of a big one for the Celtics or the end of a relatively minor one.

End of third quarter, Knicks 74-59: It was pretty shocking when the Celtics only mustered eight points in the fourth quarter of Game 1, but they came mighty close to beating that in this third quarter.

With about two minutes left in the quarter, the Celtics had been outscored 26-6 and baskets were at a premium. They did manage to almost double their production in the final minutes, getting up to 11 points to avoid another ignominious 12 minutes.

They could not do much about the Knicks, though. With Anthony’s 13 points leading the way, the Knicks dropped 32 points in the quarter and shot 71 percent while holding Boston to 22 percent. Yeah, it was not pretty.

Third quarter, 2:56, Knicks 68-54: The Celtics do not have any answer for Anthony or Felton, and it has trickled down to the offensive end. The Knicks are scoring so easily, the Celtics have not gotten a true transition chance all quarter. Garnett is hamstrung by his four fouls as the Knicks continue to hold him in foul trouble in this series. There really is no better way to beat the Celtics than to limit Garnett’s ability to be aggressive on D.

Third quarter, 5:29, Knicks 62-52: The NBA Playoffs, where Brandon Bass being the best defensive player on the floor and Raymond Felton being unstoppable offensively happen.

With Bass continuing to make all the hustle and defensive plays, Felton is ballin’ on O. The Knicks point guard shook up Terry to hit a short pull-up baby-hook over the veteran guard to give the Knicks a double-digit lead.

Third quarter, 8:49, Knicks 52-50: The latest run belongs to the Knicks, who have capitalized on the Celtics’ first real cold stretch of the game. Felton, who can create all kinds of problems as a pick-and-roll ballhandler, toasted Pierce and Garnett for a driving layup to force the Celtics to call timeout and talk it over.

Halftime, Celtics 48-42: A turnover and an ugly double-pump miss to end the first half aside, Pierce is playing with a purpose. After a rough first quarter, Pierce is up to 10 points that came the hard way against a series of New York defenders. He is struggling with his footing, but has only been called for one traveling violation — much to the chagrin of the New York fans.

Pierce is the only Boston player in double figures, while Anthony holds a game-high 15. But Anthony is just 3-for-11 from the field, meaning Pierce is not the only go-to guy struggling early.

If the Celtics could just keep the Knicks off the free throw line, their advantage could be even more than six points. The Celtics are lighting up the nets by shooting 56 percent from the floor, while the Knicks are just 38 percent. But the Knicks are 10-for-15 from the line compared to 6-for-9 for the Celtics.

Second quarter, 2:44, Celtics 44-37: This has been a game of runs, and the Celtics are clicking.

Pierce hooked up with Green on a halfcourt alley-oop that just summed up how things are humming right along for Boston. That highlight came after Pierce and Green both hit heavily contested jump shots to help the Celtics extend their lead.

Pierce and Green’s hot shooting helped offset Terry finally missing a three after making three straight attempts. Smith and Anthony will not go quietly, but the Celtics are rolling right now.

Second quarter, 7:46, Celtics 31-27: Who brought this version of Terry? The guy currently wearing No. 4 in green is playing nothing like the player who occupied that jersey for most of the season. He caught nothing but nylon on a triple — his second of the game — to complete an 11-0 run that thrust the Celtics into the lead.

We will investigate who this guy is, and why he is hitting shots, and get back to you.

Second quarter, 10:17, Knicks 27-20: Well, not a whole lot has happened. Maybe that was part of the problem, because close to two minutes into the second quarter, with a free throw by Smith amounting to all the scoring, Knicks coach Mike Woodson called for a timeout.

Smith and Anthony have combined for 18 points, but the Knicks have not gotten much from the rest of their team. This is the Knicks’ chance to put some distance between them and the Celtics, so Woodson may want to re-assert that the Knicks, who are on a 12-0 run, need to keep it up.

End of first quarter, Knicks 26-20: The first 12 minutes swung back-and-forth wildly, so the ending made perfect sense.

Crawford, who seems to have displaced Courtney Lee in the rotation, looked silly on a crossover step-back jumper by Smith. Then, after Pierce inexplicably tossed the ball into the front row, Smith took the ball back upcourt with less than five seconds left to drain a three over Crawford at the buzzer.

Lee’s disappearance is puzzling. He did tend to fall asleep at times on defense in April, but so did everyone on the Celtics. He and Garnett were one of the Celtics’ top defensive pairings in the regular season, but it looks like Lee is no more than the fifth guard — if Pierce now counts as a guard in the Celtics’ new starting lineup.

First quarter, 1:39, Celtics 20-17: J.R. Smith started out hot, hitting a pair of step-back jumpers right off the bench. Since then, the Celtics’ own jumpstarters responded.

Jason Terry and Jordan Crawford both drilled 3-pointers to help the Celtics pull into the lead, helping spread the floor for Pierce and Green, who have been aggressive. Basically, Pierce and Green are isolating against whichever defender faces a mismatch, and although they are only 3-for-8 from the field combined, they are sending a message.

First quarter, 5:08, Knicks 13-9: This game has been called ridiculously tight in the opening minutes, resulting in nine fouls between the two sides. Garnett picked up an early two and had to go to the bench, giving Chris Wilcox the first playoff action of his career.

Wilcox’ appearance did not last long, though, as Rivers opted to go with Bass as his big man in Boston’s small lineup. Bass has been one of the few Celtics immune to the team’s malaise of the last month, as his defense on Anthony was a key factor in the Celtics keeping Game 1 close.

Still, there are trade-offs. The Knicks have three offensive rebounds, giving them three extra shots in the early going. That pretty much makes up the Knicks’ advantage right now, as the Knicks are once again shooting a worse percentage than Boston from the field.

7:27 p.m.: For all the talk about the Knicks’ age, nothing served as the punchline like Pablo Prigioni, the 35-year-old rookie.

Prigioni, the Argentina-born point guard who is one of the greatest players in Spanish league history, missed Game 1 with a sprained ankle. He is expected to be back in the starting lineup, as he has been 18 times this season, for Game 2.

The projected starters appear below.

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

Knicks
Tyson Chandler
Carmelo Anthony
Iman Shumpert
Raymond Felton
Pablo Prigioni

6:07 p.m.: If the Celtics are looking for ways to improve — and we assume they are, seeing as they lost Game 1 — they can start with trying to score more than eight points in the fourth quarter and committing fewer than 21 turnovers in Game 2.

Those were the shocking numbers from Saturday’s loss, when the Celtics were right in the game but squandered several late chances to win the game. Carmelo Anthony’s 36 points looked gaudy, but that was a great start and a strong finish sandwiched around a rough middle. (He was 4-for-13 in the second and third quarters.)

If the Celtics make Anthony’s life difficult again while holding New York to just 40 percent shooting, they could even this series — provided they take care of business in the scoring and turnover areas.

8 a.m. ET: After pulling off the seemingly impossible by scoring just eight points in the fourth quarter of a loss in Game 1, the Celtics look to do something much less jaw-dropping in Game 2 by winning the game.

Jeff Green, who scored 26 points, and Carmelo Anthony, who dropped a game-high 36 points, were the clear stars of Game 1. But Celtics coach Doc Rivers was immensely impressed with Brandon Bass, who he said played nearly a perfect game with 10 rebounds and excellent defense on Anthony. The Celtics need more of that from Bass, plus similar improved defensive efforts from his teammates, to have a shot of slowing down Anthony in Game 2.

The Knicks will have something to celebrate as well now that J.R. Smith is newly minted as the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. Smith had 15 points on Sunday, but the Celtics were able to hold him to 1-for-7 shooting on 3-pointers, helping keep them in the game into the closing moments.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

Final, Knicks 85-78:

After surging to a 70-67 lead after three quarters, led by Jeff Green’s 24 points, the Celtics and Green disappeared down the stretch. Green took just one shot and had just two points — off a pair of free throws — in the final 12 minutes as the Knicks took control. The Celtics scored eight points in the fourth quarter. Yes, eight.

Carmelo Anthony started hot, got cold and then finished strong to put up a game-high 36 points. He shot just 13-for-29 from the field, though, contributing to New York’s 40-percent shooting. Yet thanks to 20 turnovers by Boston and a 33-4 scoring advantage by New York’s bench, the Knicks were able to triumph.

Fourth quarter, :40.6, Knicks 85-78: If the Celtics lose this, which it increasingly looks like they will, their inability to get the big defensive stops will stand out. On every key possession down the stretch, when they absolutely needed to keep New York from scoring, they could not.

Pierce and Bradley, two of their more reliable defenders, let Martin sneak behind them for an easy layup to give the Knicks a seven-point lead, tying their largest lead of the game. And that basket was assisted by Anthony, his first assist of the game.

Fourth quarter, 1:21, Knicks 83-76: This series is looking a lot like 1-0 New York. Sure, Anthony’s style can be boring to watch sometimes, but it can also be effective. He shook off Green’s defense to hit a long two-pointer to give the Knicks a six-point lead, right after Terry missed again.

Fourth quarter, 2:31, Knicks 81-76: The Knicks got themselves into trouble by going into stand-around iso offense earlier, and now the Celtics are doing them a favor by doing the same. After pulling within three points, Pierce tried to isolate on two straight possessions, leading to a missed three and a turnover for a fastbreak layup by Anthony.

Green, who still leads the Celtics with 24 points, has yet to score in the fourth quarter and has taken just one shot. This is not a matter of him being passive. It’s a matter of his teammates, like Pierce, not getting him the ball.

Fourth quarter, 5:44, Knicks 78-74: This could be trouble for the Celtics. Garnett picked up his fifth foul on an and-one layup by Smith, although the call looks dubious.

That substantially changes how the Celtics can attack these final five-plus minutes. Chris Wilcox and Shavlik Randolph have yet to make an appearance, as Rivers has leaned on his perimeter defenders and Garnett to lock up the Knicks. Without Garnett in the paint, the defensive job could get much tougher for guys like Green, Bradley and Lee.

Fourth quarter, 8:24, Knicks 72-70: The Green-Anthony battle is getting chippy. Anthony tried to muscle up with Green on a couple of possessions, once committing a defensive foul and once forcing Green to pass off.

If the Knicks stay this aggressive on Boston’s top scorer, the Celtics are going to need somebody like Lee or Terry to come through. That would take a drastic turnaround for the Jet. He is 0-for-4 from the field and struggling to keep up with any of the Knicks guards on defense. That could be why Lee and Crawford have gotten their share of minutes.

End of third quarter, Celtics 70-67: Jason Terry has had a hard-luck season, and he is having a hard-luck game. He missed both shots he took, and when he out-hustled Kidd for the slowest-moving offensive rebound in history, he was whistled for a foul.

Despite Terry’s struggles, the Celtics managed to come out of an ugly third quarter with the lead. Pierce and Green, who started the quarter slowly, combined for 11 of Boston’s 17 points as the two teams combined to shoot a putrid 10-for-35 from the field. Anthony and Smith were 4-for-10 in the quarter and Pierce and Green were 2-for-9, but the Celtics duo managed to get to the line, where they were perfect in six attempts. That was the difference as the pivotal final 12 minutes loom.

Third quarter, 2:51, Celtics 63-62: How the Celtics are winning this game is beyond anybody wearing green. The refs have seized control of this game, and not in a good way. At one point they called fouls on four straight possessions, with three of them being dubious.

It has gotten to the point where every call is greeted with an argument. Anthony hacked the heck out of Lee’s arm on a dunk attempt, yet gave a playful smirk as though he disagreed with the call. It’s gotten to that point. Even the correct calls are open to dispute now.

Third quarter, 9:49, Knicks 54-53: The old Anthony is back. Anthony started the second half taking two contested jumpers, missing both, then nailed a three on a frenzied possession in secondary transition. He has passed the ball once in the second half, and it shocked Shumpert when he did.

Of course, Anthony’s shooting has been offset by Pierce’s struggles. Pierce has two turnovers already as the Celtics have struggled to score — zero points in more than three minutes, to be exact.

Halftime, Celtics 53-49: One of the more amazing developments of this season is Bass’ transformation into a trusted defender. A few weeks ago, Rivers lauded Bass for becoming a communicative defender, and now Bass spent the latter part of the second quarter matched up with Anthony. He forced Anthony into some tough misses and even a fumbled ball to a turnover, which led to a Pierce layup.

Since his 4-for-4 start, Anthony is 2-for-11. He has 19 points.

Green, on the other hand, is carrying the Celtics on offense. He leads everybody with 20 points on just 10 shots, pushing the issue and attacking the basket against Knicks defenders who are either too small or too slow. Pierce is playing his usual do-everything role with 10 points and six assists.

The Celtics have recovered from New York’s red-hot start to hold the Knicks to 46 percent shooting. Lack of ball movement has been the issue for the Knicks, especially Anthony and Smith, who have resorted to hero ball. The Knicks have just seven assists on 18 field goals. The Celtics have 15 assists on their 20 field goals.

Second quarter, 4:01, Celtics 46-44: Somebody might want to tell the Knicks this is a close game they are now losing.

After Anthony and Smith delivered playground-quality isolation buckets to give New York a four-point lead, the Knicks’ bench reacted like it was a 40-point run. The Celtics came right back with a sweet pass from Pierce to Bradley, who missed the layup. But Bradley came right back with back-to-back buckets to help the Celtics retake the lead.

The Celtics can use every bit of offense offered by someone other than Green, who is now up to 17 points. He is doing exactly what a lot of people doubted he could do with Garnett and Pierce on the floor: dominating.

Second quarter, 8:54, Knicks 37-34: Green has taken over this game for the Celtics, and they need every bit of what he is giving them. The Knicks are back in the lead thanks to a couple of big threes by Jason Kidd, who has proven invaluable as a calming influence for the helter-skelter Knicks.

Green is up to 13 points, tying Anthony for the game’s high, but he is doing it much more efficiently. Green has his 13 points on seven shots — one of which was a fallaway 26-footer with Kidd’s hand in his face as the shot clock expired — plus two blocked shots.

End of first quarter, Celtics 29-26: For all the New York fans’ yelling and jumping, their team was never going to shoot at roughly a 70-percent clip all game. As soon as the Knicks cooled off a bit, the Celtics came storming back, taking the lead on a three by Green at the buzzer.

Green has looked extremely confident since his shaky start, and Bass has been strong, too. Green shot 3-for-5 in the first quarter, and on one of those misses — a blocked layup on the break — Bass was there to score on the rebound.

Anthony was on fire and leads all scorers with 13 points, but he has missed six of seven shots since his 4-for-4 start. And Pierce is already giving New York his all-around best, posting eight points, three assists and two rebounds.

First quarter, 2:23, Knicks 24-21: Anthony finally missed a couple of shots, which means Celtics coach Doc Rivers does not need the officials to investigate whether Anthony is using GameGenie. When J.R. Smith hopped off the bench and hit his first two shots, though, the problems just kept coming for Boston.

Things could get mighty interesting here. Bradley was forced to go to the bench with his second foul, and Rivers apparently chose offense over defense by inserting Crawford over Courtney Lee. With Crawford and Smith on the court together, this could get wild.

Maybe it already has. Garnett and Chandler were jostling down low when Chandler was hit with a foul, plus a technical foul for giving Garnett and extra love tap afterward.

First quarter, 7:46, Knicks 12-6: Led by Garnett, the Celtics are actually off to a fairly hot start on offense. The problem is, Anthony is just hotter.

The teams have combined to shoot 8-for-13 from the field, with Garnett canning his first two shots. But Anthony is a blistering 4-for-4 with two 3-pointers to help the Knicks double up the Celtics early.

While Garnett, Pierce and Bradley look sharp, Green looks a little uneasy. Maybe he underestimated just how much the intensity would be amped up for a playoff game at The Other Garden.

2:28 p.m.: The presence of some increased security and a reflective moment prior to the game will not be the only indication this is a different sort of day. The Celtics will wear “Boston Stands as One” patches on their jerseys, adding to the symbols of unity shown by all three Boston teams playing on Saturday.

As for, you know, the actual game, the projected starters are listed below.

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

Knicks
Tyson Chandler
Chris Copeland
Carmelo Anthony
Iman Shumpert
Raymond Felton

2:03 p.m.: Rajon Rondo is in the building. The Celtics point guard, who has not played since January but seems to be progressing well in his rehab from ACL surgery, has reportedly arrived at Madison Square Garden to cheer on his teammates.

Rondo’s support surely is appreciated, but far from necessary. Much of America is likely to be pulling for Boston in this series.

8 a.m. ET: An excruciatingly long week has finally reached the weekend. Boston and its immediate suburbs are still reeling from Friday’s lockdown and manhunt, but now Celtics fans can turn their attention to a much more frivolous type of must-see TV.

With the surreal environment back home finally starting to dissipate, the Celtics open what they hope will be a long playoff run with Game 1 of their Eastern Conference playoff series against the Knicks. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and the rest are all expected back in action for just the team’s second game in seven days. It remains to be seen just what awaits the Celtics.

The Knicks won the regular season series 3-1, but two of those games were played without Garnett. (Keep in mind that the Celtics’ lone win, Jan. 7 in New York, was played while Rajon Rondo was suspended.)

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 3 p.m.

Final, Raptors 114-90:

With Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry sitting out the entire game and Paul Pierce taking a seat for the second half, the Celtics closed the regular season with a blowout loss to the lottery-bound Raptors. DeMar DeRozan exploded for 15 points in the third quarter to finish with a game-high 24 points as Toronto led by as many as 33 points. Jordan Crawford led the Celtics with 16 points.

The Celtics next take the court this weekend in New York for Game 1 of their playoff series against the Knicks.

Fourth quarter, 6:35, Raptors 105-74: Ever since we expressed some reservations about DeRozan, he played like a man on a mission. DeRozan dropped 15 points in the third quarter alone to give him 24 points for the game, which should be enough for him. Raptors coach Dwane Casey has given guys like Lucas and Aaron Gray plenty of run in this fourth quarter, as both these teams look to just close out the regular season.

End third quarter, Raptors 96-70: We have a Fab Melo sighting, so if you did not believe what we were saying before about this game jumping the shark, hopefully you do now.

In five minutes of action, Melo had a very Melo-like line of zero points, zero rebounds, one steal and four fouls. The Raptors have followed the Celtics’ lead of emptying their bench, only unlike the Celtics, the Raptors reserves actually hit shots. Lucas has five points, and Landry Fields, who has not had success doing much of anything in his first season in Toronto, has six.

Third quarter, 5:26, Raptors 79-60: Not that we don’t enjoy your company or anything, but what are you doing here? Seriously, there is a perfectly good Jazz-Grizzlies game going on, with the Jazz fighting for their playoff lives, that is just begging for you to watch.

The game is on ESPN. Go ahead, click over. Just leave your laptop open and we will update you on anything worthwhile that occurs here. Honestly, get out of here. This thing is ugly — the Raptors got their lead up to as many as 23 points — and is likely to get uglier.

Third quarter, 10:34, Raptors 67-51: OK, this one is probably over, but Rivers does not want his players treating this game like it is over over.

Know what I mean?

After the Raptors opened the second half on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 16 points — their largest of the game — Rivers took a swift timeout. This might be the last game of an 81-game season, but he does not want the Celtics going through the motions.

Halftime, Raptors 59-49: DeRozan seems like a nice kid, and at 6-foot-7 with decent athleticism, he should be a fine player. But at halftime he has just nine points on 2-for-6 shooting, one rebound and one assist against an opponent that has made it clear it is not approaching this game with all its ammo.

Gay and Valanciunas have had no such trouble. Gay has 15 points in more than 17 minutes and Valanciunas has 13 points and six rebounds in just over 18 minutes. Only Bradley has played anywhere near that much for the Celtics.

The Celtics got 11 points each from Bradley and Pierce, but do not expect to see them much in the second half. After an off day on Thursday, the Celtics are slated to practice Friday in New York to gear up for Game 1 of their playoff series against the Knicks. Rivers does not seem in any hurry to push his guys in Toronto.

Second quarter, 5:24, Raptors 46-39: Valanciunas had a nice preseason, an inconsistent first half of the season as he transitioned into NBA life, and since the All-Star break he has shown flashes of being great.

Valanciunas is giving Boston his full repertoire here, scoring nine points and blocking three shots early in the action. His play is nearly impressive as Williams doing his Terrence Stansbury impression with a Statue of Liberty finger-roll over Lowry on the break.

Second quarter, 9:20, Raptors 36-35: Courtney Lee, a starter for much of the season, took a while to make an impact in this one. He finally got in the scorebook with a 3-pointer to briefly help the Celtics take the lead, but the Raptors turned around and threw the ball the length of the court on the inbound to retake the lead.

D.J. White and Terrence Williams have joined Crawford, Randolph and Lee on the court. It may not be explicit, but this is probably Rivers’ signal that he is letting his main guys take it easy.

End of first quarter, Raptors 31-30: Just as Rivers drew it up (or at least we will give him the benefit of the doubt), Jordan Crawford tossed up a halfcourt shot at the end of the quarter, and…

Bank. Cash.

Crawford’s skillfull and not at all lucky shot helped the Celtics pull back within one after a fairly impressive first quarter by Toronto — or Gay, anyway. Gay put up 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting and 3-for-4 shooting from downtown as the Raptors surprisingly held the lead. We will see how aggressively Rivers deploys Pierce, Bass and Green from here on, as he has already given Shavlik Randolph ample playing time.

First quarter, 5:52, Raptors 17-15: As expected, Toronto offered a moment of silence and played “Sweet Caroline” before the game. The moment of silence was sweet, but honestly I wonder how many Raptors fans — or Celtics players, many of whom have probably never been to a Red Sox game — grasped the significance of that song.

Maybe it is rust from not playing in three days, but Bass has had a rough start. He failed to box out Valanciunas twice, then got caught committing a defensive three-second violation. Rivers loves to say Bass is a “rhythm” player, so it would make sense that Bass might struggle with the layoff more than some other Celtics.

Bass did recover with a man’s rebound on defense, and tip-dunked home a missed layup by Shavlik Randolph.

7:30 p.m.: With Tuesday’s unscheduled off day, the Celtics figured to play everybody in Toronto. Not so. Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry will sit out the game, Doc Rivers told reporters, and Paul Pierce, Jeff Green and Brandon Bass will play limited minutes.

The Celtics have two days off before they almost assuredly play Saturday in New York. The Rangers have a late afternoon home game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, meaning the venue is booked for that day. That means the Celtics will have played one game in a stretch of six days.

The project starting lineups appear below.

Celtics
Chris Wilcox
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

Raptors
Jonas Valanciunas
Amir Johnson
Rudy Gay
DeMar DeRozan
Kyle Lowry

5:55 p.m.: Tragedies have a way of bringing people together, and that appears to be the case in Toronto.

Two weeks ago, Torontonians were cursing everything Boston-related when former Blue Jays manager John Farrell made a trip to the Rogers Centre with his new team, the Red Sox. Now they will stand united with Bostonians prior to Wednesday’s game against the Celtics.

The Raptors will observe a moment of silence and play “Sweet Caroline” when they introduce the Celtics’ starting lineup, according to radio play-by-play announcer Sean Grande.

There will be a moment of silence tonight, and the Celtics will be introduced to "Sweet Caroline". That, Toronto, is how you stay classy.

—
Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) April 17, 2013

Be forewarned, it might get a bit dusty when the song starts to play.

8 a.m. ET: It is hard to say precisely how emotional it will be Wednesday when the Celtics take the court at the Air Canada Centre for their first game since Monday’s tragedy at the Boston Marathon. The Celtics canceled Tuesday’s game at TD Garden against the Pacers out of respect for the victims and security personnel whose efforts were better utilized at the crime scene, in a move that was impossible to argue against.

Just how Celtics coach Doc Rivers approaches this final game against the Raptors (32-48) could be interesting. He planned on parceling out rest to some key players in this final week, but now that the Celtics (41-39) will have had just one game in a seven-day span, the plan may have changed.

If you would like to take a break from the nonstop news coverage, please join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

Final, Celtics 120-88:

Courtney Lee scored 20 to lead the way while teaming up with Jordan Crawford and Terrence Williams to put the finishing touches on a game that was even more of a whupping as the final score suggests. Tobias Harris scored 22 points and Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Magic, who never seemed to be running much of anything on offense or defense.

Bass, meanwhile, shot 6-for-7 from the field and Lee was 7-for-10, as well as 3-for-3 from deep. The Celtics shot just a shade under 60 percent as a team, and at one point led by 37 points. They clinched the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference, meaning they are assured of avoiding the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs — or any time until the conference finals, if they make it that far.

Fourth quarter, 2:37, 115-80: Two-thirds of this group might be relative newcomers to the Celtics, but the Lee-Crawford-Williams combination must be a lot of fun to be a part of. Crawford gave his pass to Lee a little extra flair before Lee tossed it home for a dunk, and the Celtics are off and running.

Fourth quarter, 7:19, Celtics 101-70: He has not shown it much this year, but Lee has been a good 3-point shooter for most of his career. He was pretty much a career 40-percent shooter from deep, but this season he has shot just 36 percent from downtown — a decent percentage, but well below where he has typically been.

Lee has started to show signs of regaining his stroke, or at least of getting aggressive with that shot again. He is 2-for-2 here after going 2-for-6 Friday in Miami. In the last three games, Lee has taken 10 threes, after taking just six in his previous six games.

End of third quarter, Celtics 85-64: This has been a rough trip for Green. One night after having to leave the game with a bruised elbow, Green suffered a charley horse while trying to maneuver around a screen on defense.

Green stayed in the game, and the Celtics held onto their 20-plus point lead. The Celtics are on fire, particularly their starters, who each have reached double figures in scoring. Crawford makes it an even six players in double figures with 10 points himself.

Third quarter, 6:36, Celtics 67-48: The Magic sure aren’t good, but they do have some promising pieces, especially in their frontcourt.

Vucevic is well on his way to another double-double with 12 points and nine boards, while Harris has shaken off a rough shooting night to put up 11 points, plus two blocked shots on the defensive end. Meanwhile, rookie Kyle O’Quinn did an admirable job defending Garnett on one possession, forcing the future Hall of Famer to hit a tough, contested 18-footer.

But, yeah, the Magic are bad. That certainly is not going to change soon.

Halftime, Celtics 57-37: Jordan Crawford is playing just the way Rivers wants him to. He is attacking the basket, shaking off contact and converting some seemingly impossible layups, but he has also let the referees know how much contact he is taking when he does drive.

Crawford shouted “And one!” at the officials after a double-pump layup, and it was not the first time he has yelled that in this game. Bennett Salvatore had had enough, and he hit Crawford with a technical foul.

Crawford’s activity aside, Bass has been incredibly active for the Celtics. He dunked home a miss at the buzzer to give him 10 points, tying Green and Pierce for the team lead. If Bradley had not missed a layup and Green not missed a dunk on successive plays, the Celtics’ lead could be even wider.

In a combination of good defense and an awful offensive team, the Magic are shooting less than 33 percent from the field and are just 2-for-8 from beyond the arc. At the same time, they have taken only four foul shots. Oh yeah, and they are getting outrebounded 30-23. So it’s no wonder the Celtics’ lead is 20 points and likely to grow in the second half.

Second quarter, 6:35, Celtics 39-21: The alley-oop finally worked for the Celtics. With Pierce leading the break, Green sneaked up the right wing and soared in for a one-handed slam off the lob from Pierce. That gave the Celtics their largest lead of the game.

To be brutally honest, a victory should be a given here for the Celtics, with or without Pierce and Garnett. The only question is how ugly this thing gets, and right now it looks like it could get pretty ugly.

Second quarter, 8:30, Celtics 33-2: Vucevic learned the hard way that Garnett is never his opponent’s friend. Vucevic tried to give Garnett a friendly hand slap after fouling him, but Garnett slapped away Vucevic’s hand in a not-so-friendly way.

The lesson for the young big man should be clear: Garnett is not high-fiving a guy in an opposing jersey. Deal with it.

End of first quarter, Celtics 23-17: Not many Celtics can claim to have truly played well the last month, but Bass can. The forward continued his strong play by going 4-for-4 from the field in the first quarter, reminding his old team what they are missing.

Remember, Bass came to Boston two summers ago in a trade for Glen Davis, so deep down he probably wants to stick it to the Magic, however slightly.

First quarter, 2:33, Celtics 19-13: Since Nik Vucevic scored on a putback to finally get Orlando on the board a little less than four minutes in, the Magic have fared much better against the Celtics. Bradley may want to stop trying to throw lobs, as two attempted alley-oops to Pierce and Chris Wilcox have easily been snuffed out by the Magic.

First quarter, 10:08, Celtics 7-0: The Celtics are back at full strength, more or less, and they look like it.

Green has had trouble finding shots with Pierce and Garnett in the lineup, but he got off to a solid start by scoring Boston’s first five points. Garnett then added a turnaround 15-footer to extend the Celtics’ lead, prompting a quick timeout from Orlando’s bench.

The Magic do not have much margin for error, so coach Jacque Vaughn is smart not to take any chances.

6:16 p.m.: Pierce and Garnett might be around for this one, but Jason Terry will not be. The 35-year-old guard will miss his first game of the season, making Green and Brandon Bass the only players not to miss a game this season for Boston.

6:02 p.m.: The starting lineup should look a little more familiar in Orlando, where both Pierce and Garnett are expected to be announced in a darkened arena before the game. Doc Rivers also seemed to think Jeff Green, who got nicked up in Friday’s loss to the Heat, would be ready to play shortly after the game in Miami.

The Celtics’ magic number to clinch the seventh seed, assuring that they cannot meet the powerhouse Heat until the Eastern Conference Finals, now stands at one. If the Celtics beat the Magic or the Bucks lose to the Bobcats (which is unlikely but entirely possible), the Celtics avoid the dreaded eighth spot.

The projected starting lineups, assuming all sorts of things with regard to available personnel, appear below.

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

Magic
Nikola Vucevic
Tobias Harris
Maurice Harkless
E’Twaun Moore
Beno Udrih

3 p.m. ET: Jeff Green is not expected to miss any time with the left elbow bruise he suffered late in Friday’s loss to the Heat, so the Celtics should be at full strength — or what amounts to full strength for them, anyway — when they visit the Magic on Saturday.

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are slated to return for the second leg of this road back-to-back, one of two the Celtics (40-39) have to close the season. The Magic (20-59) won their last game Wednesday to snap a five-game losing streak, but that was just their second win since March 12. Since that victory over the Lakers, the Magic are 2-13.

The Magic do have a couple of promising players worth watching. Nikola Vucevic is a double-double machine at center, while Tobias Harris came over in the J.J. Redick trade to give Orlando an intriguing centerpiece. Mo Harkless has played well at times lately, as well.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 7 p.m. ET.

Final, Heat 109-101:

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett rested, but it looked for a while that Green and the Celtics would make things interesting. Then Green went down with an injured left elbow after dunking over Chris Andersen in the fourth quarter, and the concern with this one game turned to the status of Green’s arm.

Green led all scorers with 25 points and added eight rebounds, while Lee came through with 18 points thanks to a 13-point fourth quarter. Crawford checked in with an even 20, coming one point shy of his Boston high set back in March in Memphis.

LeBron James finished up with 20 points, nine assists and six rebounds as the Heat beat the Celtics for the third time in four meetings this season.

Fourth quarter, 3:30, Heat 99-90: The Celtics are trying to make a late run, but a technical foul on Terry will not help. Terry disputed a foul he was whistled for while defending Allen, and Rivers came close to getting one of his own by coming onto the court to argue the call as well.

Fourth quarter, 6:00, Heat 97-81: The official word is that Green has a bruised left elbow. He was sliding on a black compression sleeve on the bench and “may” return, but that does not seem likely or necessary. His presence will not make much difference in this one.

Allen drilled another shot — although he did finally miss one before that — to give Miami a 16-point edge. The sellout crowd at American Airlines Arena probably can safely make their way to the exits and out to the strip.

Fourth quarter, 8:28, Heat 93-79: The Celtics are showing their scrappiness by making the Heat sweat a bit, but there is some bad news for Boston. Green appeared to hurt his left hand when he was undercut by Andersen on a Statue of Liberty dunk, and he went up and down the floor three times cradling his hand or arm.

Curiously, Rivers never called timeout to get Green’s arm looked at. He waited until Terry was called for a traveling violation for Green to get medical attention.

End of third quarter, Heat 87-75: Green has flourished this season when Pierce and/or Garnett has not played, and he is at the top of his game again. With 23 points and eight rebounds, Green is helping the Celtics keep just close enough to be a threat.

Bass is also posting a strong game with 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting, but old friend Allen has yet to miss. Allen has 11 points off the bench for Miami, nailing all four shots he has taken.

The Celtics have shown some pride by sticking around with the Heat, despite missing some big names. The next 12 minutes will show if this is just a moral victory or an actual one.

Third quarter, 7:07, Heat 72-60: Now this is turning into the game everybody expected. James is turning the Celtics into mincemeat in his understated, efficient way, carving them up with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting and five assists. His no-look bounce pass to Bosh split the defense and gave Miami its largest lead of the game after Bosh converted the finger roll.

Halftime, Heat 58-50: All things considered, this was not a terrible first 24 minutes for the Celtics. To be down by just eight to a squad with the world’s best player, plus a pretty strong supporting cast, is not bad.

But the Celtics have to be disappointed with this halftime result after leading for most of the first half. The Heat shot 58 percent from the field, helped by their bench shooting 10-for-13. Meanwhile, the Celtics could use a contribution from someone other than their de facto starting “frontcourt” of Bass, Green and Crawford. Those three have combined for 34 of Boston’s points and are the only Celtics players shooting at least 50 percent from the floor.

James has 14 points to lead all scorers, of course. Whatever.

Second quarter, 5:46, game tied 38-38: The Heat have yet to lead in this game, but it is coming. Wade, who has been quiet most of the game, drained a pull-up jumper to knot it up for the second time, after the Celtics had pushed back into the lead following a three by Norris Cole.

Cole was in position to tie it up thanks to back-to-back triples by Allen, whom the Celtics just keep leaving open. In their defense, maybe they just aren’t familiar with his game and were not aware the guy wearing No. 34 could shoot.

Second quarter, 8:53, Celtics 34-28: A 3-pointer by Lee gave the Celtics a 13-point advantage, their largest of the game, but gradually the Celtics’ lack of experience together is beginning to show through. Shavlik Randolph got called for a couple of tough fouls and for some reason Williams switched off Wade, leaving Randolph covering the former NBA Finals MVP on the perimeter.

Another defensive breakdown led to Ray Allen being left wide open in the left corner for a three, and the Heat are within six. That is as close as they have been since there were just under five minutes to go in the first quarter.

End of first quarter, Celtics 27-17: It took more than 6 1/2 minutes for somebody other than James to score a basket for the Heat. When it finally happened, on a dunk by Bosh, the Heat did not exactly take off and run with it.

With Green providing two highlight-reel dunks over Chris Andersen as part of his eight points, the Celtics held a comfortable lead for much of the first. The Heat did managed to cut a 12-point lead down to eight points with their own second unit, but for the most part the Celtics’ Garnett-and-Pierce-less lineup is beating the Heat to spots on offense, defense and loose balls.

First quarter, 6:56, Celtics 13-5: Stopping the ball in transition is one of the first things young players learn in their YMCA practices, but the Heat must not have covered that in their preparations for this game.

Jeff Green cruised coast-to-coast for two layups with Mike Miller just sort of watching him. That sort of lackadaisical effort has helped the Celtics burst out to an early lead despite being outmatched from a talent standpoint. Courtney Lee has a step-back jumper over James after missing a couple of gimmes, Avery Bradley has a corner three and Jordan Crawford banked home a Lee miss to help the Celtics build their eight-point lead.

6:55 p.m.: This one could get ugly. While Garnett and Pierce rest, the full South Beach Big Three will be on the court for Miami, as Bosh, Wade and James will take on a patchwork Boston lineup.

Jordan Crawford moves into the starting five for the second time as a Celtic and the first time since March 26, when he took the place of an injured Courtney Lee. Now Crawford and Lee will be on the floor together, and we will see what they can do against the star-studded Heat. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra has, however, decided to keep Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem out of the lineup. Gee, thanks.

The projected starters appear below.

Celtics
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Courtney Lee
Jordan Crawford
Avery Bradley

Heat
Chris Bosh
LeBron James
Mike Miller
Dwyane Wade
Mario Chalmers

12:30 p.m.: The Celtics probably aren’t playing Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, but it looks like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will be on the floor.

Miami’s Big Three will play tonight, the team announced. Udonis Haslem and Shane Battier, however, will sit out.

The Celtics plan to sit Garnett and Pierce, ESPN reports.

8 a.m. ET: Whoever plays will play, and the game will most likely be thrilling and chilling. We can only hope.

With the status of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all unclear, the Celtics and Heat will face off in Miami in a watered-down version of one of the NBA’s best rivalries. The Heat did not seem to miss a beat Wednesday without their stars, as Ray Allen came through to lead Miami to a win over the Wizards, but the Celtics have had far less success of late without their mainstays. Not even Garnett and Pierce’s presence could help Boston avoid a loss to the Nets on Wednesday.

Whether this turns out to be a star-studded affair or a glorified preseason game, there will be some pride on the line. Jeff Green, Avery Bradley, Shane Battier and others would surely like to prove they can beat another pretty good conference rival without their top players, even if said rival does not have its top players, either.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Deron Williams was brilliant, dropping 29 points and 12 assists on the overmatched Boston backcourt. Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez both reached the 20s in scoring, too, while Pierce led the Celtics with 23.

The Celtics get one day to regroup before they take on the Heat in Miami. Whether the Heat’s stars rest might be irrelevant. Even a shorthanded Miami squad might be able to top the Celtics now, especially if either Pierce or Kevin Garnett, who struggled for much of Wednesday’s game, take a rest.

Fourth quarter, 5:17, Nets 93-82: Green has finally woken up a bit. The Nets have forced him to his left all night, and Green has stopped trying to fight it. Green took what they gave him to drive to his left and convert an and-on layup and pull the Celtics within single digits, but the Celtics are not making this easy on themselves.

Playoff seeding aside, it is important for the Celtics, especially the new guys, to figure out how to close out wins. It would be useful for them to do that now, against a fellow East playoff team.

Fourth quarter, 8:49, Nets 85-75: Nothing came of the review. It was unclear what they were looking at the video for, anyway. Back to the game.

Fourth quarter, 8:49, Nets 85-75: Garnett was extremely close to calling it a night early when he got caught up in a scrum with Humphries. As the two big men battled for possession, Garnett appeared to toss an extra elbow at the end of it, just as the shot clock buzzer sounded.

The refs appeared to miss it, which is good news for the Celtics. But the officials are reviewing the tape, which might not be good news for them.

End of third quarter, Nets 79-69: Nobody has been more unlucky with the shot than Terry has been. He had a possible and-one opportunity roll out of the cylinder and his buzzer-beating three over Humphries spun in and out.

Still, this game is not about Terry’s bad luck, but Pierce and Williams’ dominance. The Nets point guard has 19 points and 11 assists heading into the fourth quarter, while Pierce has 23 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field and 6-for-7 from the line.

Third quarter, 4:19, Nets 68-57: It took until midway through the third quarter, but the Celtics finally took their first free throw. It came courtesy of Pierce, who has started to attack the hoop as nobody on the Celtics had been previously.

At the same time, the foul machine known as Reggie Evans finally picked up his first and second personal fouls of the game.

Pierce’s aggressiveness has opened things up for the Celtics on the perimeter and fired them up on defense. Green drained a three from the corner to pull the Celtics within 11, then Randolph stepped in and drew a charge on Lopez. After a listless two-plus quarters, the Celtics have given their crowd something to cheer about at long last.

Third quarter, 11:11, Nets 56-45: It did not take long for Rivers to be greatly displeased. After Bradley took a tumble, Rivers felt Williams should be called for an offensive foul. But then Williams went down as well, drawing a defensive foul on Bradley (his fourth), and Rivers really got upset. He issued a quick timeout after a three by Johnson to regroup his troops.

Halftime, Nets 53-43: Sure, the Celtics trail at halftime, but let’s all give them a round of applause for going a full half without attempting a single free throw.

No? OK.

The Celtics pulled off the incredibly difficult trick of going 24 minutes without a foul shot, and it did not exactly help that they shot just 20-for-43 on their regular shots. The Nets shot 9-for-10 from the line and 51 percent from the field, meanwhile, making it fairly easy for them to build a double-digit lead despite Wallace and MarShon Brooks suffering injuries in the first half.

Bass and Pierce have busted out some eye-opening plays, including a nifty step-around, flipped-in bank shot by Pierce to cap of Boston’s first half scoring, but not everyone on the Celtics looks as sharp. Garnett really looks off, missing five of the six shots he took, while Green was just 1-for-7 from the floor.

The Nets’ All-Star backcourt is ballin’, though. Williams and Johnson have 27 points combined on 5-for-9 shooting each.

Even with all that, the Celtics would be in this if they could just get to the line. It’s easy to guess that that must be part of Rivers’ halftime points of emphasis.

Second quarter, 4:58, Celtics 37-35: With more or less the starting five in — with Jordan Crawford in place of Green — the Celtics’ defensive rotations conveniently became worlds better. Who knew?

Anyway, that improved D, as well as improved shooting accuracy that is steadily heading upward to near 50 percent, has helped the Celtics recapture the lead. Wilcox gave the Celtics some valuable minutes off the bench, highlighted by a one-handed throw down after he cut down the lane and received a bounce pass from a posted-up Garnett.

Kris Humphries, who has been banished to the bench for much of the second half of the season by Carlesimo, has gotten some rare early burn. Perhaps the Nets hope the widely disliked forward still has something left after the extracurricular activity he had with Garnett the last time the Nets played here.

Second quarter, 9:09, Nets 31-27: Deron Williams is having a field day against the Likes of Terry, Lee and Terrence Williams. The all-world point guard, who is finally getting fully healthy and playing to his full potential this season, bullied his way into the lane and shoved aside the much larger Wilcox for a fadeaway bank shot. He then penetrated to the right block and whipped an over-the-shoulder pass to Andray Blatche for a dunk.

The Nets could have a tough time keep up with the Celtics’ smaller lineup, however, as Wallace had to be helped off the court during the last timeout. It was a weird situation, because there did not appear to be any obvious sign that he was injured until a convoy carried him to the tunnel.

End of first quarter, Nets 22-21: Bass is continuing his strong play from the last game, hitting his first four shots to finish the quarter 4-for-5 from the field for a team-leading eight points. But the Celtics have been unable to hold a lead thanks to a defensively challenged second unit.

Chris Wilcox, Shavlik Randolph, Courtney Lee, Jason Terry and Green struggled to match up in transition and as a result gave Brooklyn plenty of open looks. Terry and Green seemed confused as C.J. Watson brought the ball up court on the secondary break and drilled a pull-up 3-pointer with no defenders within five feet of him.

First quarter, 6:22, Celtics 13-7: Pay no attention to the score. The pace of this game has been relatively fast for these slow-poke teams. They just have not done a great job of putting the ball in the hole.

For the Nets, it is a matter of holding onto the ball. They have three turnovers, and it really should be four, as the refs missed Evans stepping on the end line while trying to save the ball out of bounds. The Celtics have no turnovers, but Garnett has missed his first four shots, including three makeable layups on one possession.

7:26 p.m.: The Celtics and Nets will never been mistaken for the best of buds, but Jeff Green and Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo do share a special bond. Carlesimo was Green’s first NBA coach, and the Seattle SuperSonics coach was tough on the rookie out of Georgetown. Carlesimo even went so far as the say he did not think Green was a very good player coming out of college.

Still, Carlesimo’s less-than-glowing opinion of Green taught the young player to have a thick skin. Green said the biggest difference between Carlesimo and Doc Rivers, his current coach, is that Carlesimo swears more. Green says he sees Carlesimo’s imprint on the Nets’ midseason turnaround, as they are playing harder and tougher than they did before Carlesimo took over in December.

Carlesimo and Green have stayed in contact since Green was traded to Boston by the now-Oklahoma City franchise in 2011. Carlesimo called Green “a first-class individual” before the game, adding that Green is “one of my most favorite guys I’ve ever coached.”

The projected starting lineups appear below.

Nets
Brook Lopez
Reggie Evans
Gerald Wallace
Joe Johnson
Deron Williams

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Paul Pierce
Jeff Green
Avery Bradley

8 a.m. ET: The Celtics have declared their intentions — if not with their words, then with their actions. They will take it easy with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett the rest of the regular season, doing just enough to stay out of the dreaded eighth spot in the Eastern Conference standings but not doing so much as to strain their veteran stars.

At least Pierce figures to be active for Wednesday’s game against the Nets (44-32), who have already beaten the Celtics (40-37) twice in three meetings this season. Those victories came with a much less effective Deron Williams, who struggled with ankle pain for most of the season before finally rounding into his old form in the last month.

Interim coach P.J. Carlesimo also appears to have found some stability with his rotation now that he has committed to Reggie Evans, a 6-foot-8 bundle of energy. The Celtics’ front line is in for a workout.

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden for the regular season’s penultimate home game, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

With Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce back in action, and Brandon Bass scoring 20 points to come within a basket of his season high, the Celtics turned it on in the third quarter to cruise to a win over the Wizards.

The Celtics shot a blistering 12-for-16 from the field in the third to build an 18-point lead the Wizards could not recover from. With John Wall struggling to put up 16 points and 10 assists after a torrid start that promised much more, the Wizards were unable to stand up to a Boston team that shot 56 percent.

The Celtics corrected a few problems for them of late. They won the battle inside with a 50-36 advantage in points in the paint and a 38-36 edge on the glass. In addition to Bass’ 20 points, the Celtics had nine players with between six points and 15 points.

Fourth quarter, 1:58, Celtics 103-88: Pierce came through for his coach. With Wall all over him in the left corner, Pierce drilled a heavily contested three to give the Celtics some space. Then, going with the theme of the game, Garnett found Bass on the left wing for a jumper that pretty much seals things. Make it 20 points on the night for Bass.

Fourth quarter, 3:58, Celtics 98-88: Wilcox and Bass are defending their rear ends off, but the Wizards are still getting some decent looks in between the Celtics flying around the court. Things are getting close, so Rivers called timeout to re-insert Garnett and Pierce to take care of things in the final minutes.

Fourth quarter, 5:55, Celtics 96-81: This is as well as Wilcox has played in weeks, and Garnett’s return probably has a lot to do with that. Wilcox is 6-of-7 from the field for 13 points and also has five boards.

But mostly, Wilcox just looks sharp on both ends. He and Bass have even played off each other with some nice interior passing (no, seriously) to generate an easy bucket for Wilcox.

Fourth quarter, 8:51, Celtics 94-77: The Wizards are trying to make things interesting, but Garnett might have finally gotten his legs under him. After Wall hit his last three shots, Garnett locked down Nene in the post and picked off Nene’s bounce pass attempt to a cutting A.J. Price. Garnett then tossed the ball ahead to Lee, who was blocked, but Wilcox scored an and-one layup by hustling after the play.

On the offensive end, Garnett has hit his last two 18-foot jumpers after looking out of rhythm in the first three quarters.

End of third quarter, Celtics 87-71: While Wall floundered, Bass surged.

Bass’ fingerprints were all over a 19-3 run that boosted the Celtics into a lead that reached as many as 18 points in the third quarter. He rumbled down the lane for a two-handed slam as Okafor and Kevin Seraphin parted like the Red Sea, then hit a crazy fallaway 20-footer as the shot clock expired.

Wall, meanwhile, just started to rediscover his stroke. He threw down a dunk with 55 seconds left in the quarter for his first points since the first quarter. He added a floater as the quarter expired, making him 2-for-8 from the field since his 5-for-7 start.

Third quarter, 6:10, Celtics 70-58: As Garnett tries to get his legs back, the Celtics have turned up the heat on defense. Garnett took umbrage with a bad foul called on Pierce, who appeared to have two hands on the ball as Okafor attempted a layup. Although Leon Wood turned his back, Jason Phillips thought Garnett’s fist wave was too emphatic and hit Garnett with a technical foul.

Rivers will take that sort of intensity on defense, though. The Celtics have outscored the Wizards 14-6 in this quarter by not allowing anything easy.

Halftime, Celtics 56-52: The Celtics are still figuring things out. That much is clear from the way they played well in fits and starts in the first half.

The Wizards have a lot to do with that, too. Trevor Ariza has always given Pierce trouble defensively, and now Ariza is doing damage offensively, too. Ariza is 5-for-9 from the field to lead all scorers with 12 points, while the Celtics have gone with a more balanced attack. Nobody in white has scored more than eight points, but everyone who has played at least a minute has scored for the Celtics.

The Celtics can be thankful to Wall for going cold in the second quarter and for the Wizards as a team for committing nine turnovers. At the same time, the Celtics have to feel good about holding a lead even though nothing has gone right for them from outside. They are 1-for-6 from downtown, with Pierce bricking away with a 1-for-4.

If the Celtics stay varied with their offense (they scored 32 points in the paint in the first half ), they should open themselves up for open threes in the second half.

Second quarter, 5:42, Celtics 42-37: Garnett is clearly laboring. It makes sense that he would not be sharp at the offensive end, where he has missed the rim with two of his four shots. But he also looks to be huffing and puffing on the defensive end. This might be foot pain, or it might be old-fashioned conditioning.

Crawford figured to be in an aggressive mood against his former team, and he quickly took (and made) two shots after entering the game. Since then, he has turned to doing other, little things, like playing defense and helping enter the ball to begin the offense.

Like I said, this is a weird game.

Second quarter, 8:36, Celtics 36-31: Part of the reason Rivers has turned to an unconventional lineup of Green and Pierce in as co-threes, rather than having a true “two” guard, is that Lee has struggled lately and Crawford is still trying to find his way with the team. Meanwhile, Jason Terry prefers to come off the bench.

Playing all three of those guys together, Rivers has a chance to see all three play their way into playoff shape. Lee has had a rough start, hitting the bottom of the rim on a layup attempt and throwing the ball away on an easy entry pass to the corner, but he was able to get ahead of the defense and get fouled by Ariza.

Lee’s run-out attempt came after a steal by Crawford, who has Boston’s last two baskets.

End of first quarter, Celtics 28-27: Things truly are weird around here. The Wizards are running an efficient, varied offense while the Celtics are coming down the floor and playing what Rivers calls “Washington plays.”

With Wall spearheading the attack, the Wizards are shooting 55 percent from the field. Wall is giving the Celtics’ guards, even Bradley, all sorts of trouble with his speed. The third-year dynamo has 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting and three assists with no turnovers.

The Celtics are getting energy up front, where Randolph and Bass have combined for 11 points and seven boards. Bass has two dunks to help Boston cling to a slim lead heading into the second quarter.

First quarter, 5:51, Wizards 13-12: With Garnett and Pierce back in action, Bradley took six of the first 11 shots and Shavlik Randolph was the first man off the bench.

Wait, what?

In the third-to-last home game of the season, the Celtics have gotten a little weird. Still, that is not entirely bad. Bradley did hit three of those six shots, and Randolph has gone more than two minutes without a foul. Also, Garnett looked to be moving fine in his first shift back in two weeks.

Then again, Pierce airballed a three, so these guys are definitely not at their best right now.

6:08 p.m.: Paul Anthony Pierce has another trophy for his case. The Celtics’ captain was presented with the eighth annual Red Auerbach award prior to the game by Celtics managing partner Wyc Grousbeck and coach Doc Rivers.

People cheered. There was much merriment. On to the game.

5:17 p.m.: As we mentioned a bit earlier, the Wizards are not nearly as bad as their record suggests. That is why it is good news for the Celtics that Pierce and Garnett will both be back in uniform and in the starting lineup as the Celtics try to take on a Washington squad that has given some very good teams tons of trouble lately.

The Wizards beat the Pacers on Saturday, and it was a convincing win over the third-best team in the East. Celtics coach Doc Rivers said he has not even bothered to show his team video of the first three meetings with the Wizards this season, since the Wiz are such a drastically different team with Wall than without him.

The projected starters appear below.

Wizards
Emeka Okafor
Nene
Martell Webster
Garrett Temple
John Wall

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

3:40 p.m. ET: Sunday marks the highly anticipated return of Jason Collins to Boston. We assume there will be a memorable highlight reel and an extended ovation for the center whose 32-game stint with the Celtics ran through the best and worst the team has had to offer this season.

OK, so maybe video retrospectives of Collins’ time in Boston are asking a bit much. Regardless, Collins was a consummate pro for the Celtics, and no less an authority than Kevin Garnett raved about Collins’ work as a teammate. It would be a classy move for Celtics fans to give Collins a bit of light applause if he makes an appearance.

8 a.m. ET: The Celtics’ magical mystery tour of the some of the worst opponents the Eastern Conference has to offer has not gone as planned.

There is little question that the Wizards (29-47) have improved greatly since John Wall returned to the lineup for good. They are 24-19 since Wall came back in early January from a knee injury, making the Wizards a much more dangerous opponent than their overall record suggests. Meanwhile, the Celtics (39-37) have not had much success against teams they should handle easily.

The Celtics went 1-1 in the first two games of this four-game homestand, dropping a decision to the Cavaliers on Friday without Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce after beating the Pistons on Wednesday. Both are hopeful to get back on the court Sunday, after Garnett clarified at practice on Saturday that the injury was his foot — not his ankle.

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden during the game, which tips off a bit early at 6 p.m. ET.

Final, Cavs 97-91:

Jeff Green delivered 23 points and nine rebounds in the defeat, and Shavlik Randolph pitched in a career-high 16 points with seven rebounds.

Tristan Thompson and the Cavs were just too much, especially down low. Thompson posted a career-high 29 points, plus 17 rebounds, seven of which were offensive. Alonzo Gee also had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while a nicked-up Kyrie Irving had 11 points and eight assists. The Cavs outrebounded the Celtics 58-42.

The biggest cause for concern from the game is not the loss or the absences of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, both of whom are expected back Sunday. No, the biggest concern might be Avery Bradley leaving the game after taking an elbow from Irving, although Bradley did later return to the bench.

Fourth quarter, 1:22, Cavs 96-87: Well, the Bucks are in the process of most likely losing to the Knicks, so at least the Celtics will not lose any ground in the East playoff race. This is about as much as can be expected from a team missing its two top players (not counting Rajon Rondo, who is out of the equation now).

Bradley is back on the bench, but he is not coming back into this game now. It will take a crazy effort from Green, Terry and the bunch to come out with a victory now.

Fourth quarter, 3:18, Cavs 91-83: As Terry pulls up for a three, Rivers calls timeout and the whistle blows just before the ball swishes through the net. It has been that kind of night for the Celtics.

With just over three minutes to go, the Celtics are trying to fight back. They will have to do it without Bradley, who headed to the locker room after play had stopped. It looks like it may be connected to the elbow from Irving he took to the left of his neck/collarbone.

Fourth quarter, 5:44, Cavs 87-83: It has been chippy for a while, and now the Celtics have decided to finally match Cleveland’s toughness.

Randolph finally fouled out, putting in a solid night’s work of 16 points and seven rebounds in 13 minutes. Now the Celtics will be small the rest of the way, with Green essentially playing power forward with three guards and Bass at center.

Even with a smaller lineup, the Celtics might actually be protecting the rim better. Bradley and Green sold out to block Thompson at the rim, and Crawford showed some solidarity by shoving Thompson after he set a hard screen on Bradley.

Terry’s corner three pulled the Celtics within four points, prompting Cavs coach Byron Scott to take a timeout to regroup.

Fourth quarter, 9:19, Cavs 82-68: The Celtics need to show some fight, and it needs to come from somebody other than the 7-footer who was playing in China a little more than a month ago. It also needs to come in the form of something other than an ill-advised flagrant near halfcourt.

The Celtics have given up eight straight points to begin the fourth quarter, which is not the way to close out a last-place opponent on your home floor.

Fourth quarter, 10:19, Cavs 76-68: Not sure why Terry did this, but the Celtics guard just lowered a shoulder and knocked C.J. Miles to the floor as the Cavs swingman dribbled up the court. It’s an easy flagrant 1 call, which gives Miles two shots and possession for the Cavs.

End of third quarter, Cavs 74-68: Heading into the final 12 minutes, the Celtics will benefit from having Pierce on their side.

Oh, yeah. Never mind.

Well, at least they have Kevin Garn– oh, right. They don’t have him, either.

The Celtics usually feel pretty good in these situations, down by a handful at home heading into the fourth, but they will need to find a way to pull this one out without the Truth or the Big Ticket.

Third quarter, 1:56, Cavs 70-65: Randolph heads to the bench with five fouls, which is a bit of a problem for the Celtics, since he has been their top big man. Still, that does not take much.

Wilcox has struggled, but Randolph has not been as sharp as his 14 points and six boards implies. He has been out of position or battling unnecessarily to pick up those five fouls, and the Celtics’ lead went from a seven-point advantage to a three-point deficit with him on the floor. (Gee added a dunk after Randolph left to make up the current margin.)

It almost seems like Rivers is trying to find the weirdest lineup combination possible to still be competitive in this game.

Third quarter, 8:07, Celtics 62-55: This is the Celtics’ chance to put the game away. They are off to a 10-3 run to begin the second half, with Green and Bradley providing threes to push the Celtics into their largest lead since they led by eight midway through the second quarter.

Halftime, game tied 52-52: The Celtics are scoring in bunches, but they are not playing a lick of defense. Their saving grace is that the Cavs are not playing much D, either.

It’s not so much that the teams are hitting a lot of shots, since they are both shooting in the mid-to-high 40s from the floor. The type of shots they are getting just seem so easy. Despite constantly running up and down the floor, the game is tied and neither team has put together a long run to take control, even though five players have double figures in points so far.

Randolph remains the high man for the Celtics with 13 points, while Thompson has 21 points with an array of post buckets and finishes out of the screen and roll. If the Celtics could just hit their free throws — they are 8-for-15 on foul shots — they could have a comfortable lead.

Second quarter, 5:54, Celtics 40-37: The bench has been so dramatically better here, it is ridiculous. Not only is Randolph throwing his body around, but Terrence Williams is shaking up the Cavs guards with his handle.

All told, the bench is a cumulative plus-34. The starters are a cumulative minus-19.

Second quarter, 8:50, Celtics 37-31: The Celtics sure are fortunate to have Shavlik Randolph.

Wait, did I really just type that?

The Celtics hold an all-too-rare advantage on the glass, 16-12, and it is almost entirely due to Randolph. He has five rebounds (four offensive) and a career-high 13 points in less than five minutes of action. He has also taken the role formerly occupied by Jared Sullinger and Greg Stiemsma as the officials’ whipping boy, though, picking up two personal fouls.

End of first quarter, Celtics 28-26: With two All-Stars sidelined, this was just the type of game where the Celtics needed a guy like Shavlik Randolph to step up.

With Lee, Wilcox and Bradley continuing and worrying trend of suffering some defensive lapses, Rivers brought Randolph off the bench to bring some early energy. He brought just that. Randolph has hit his first three shots and has three offensive rebounds to help Boston retake the lead.

The Celtics’ lead could be even greater if they could hit their foul shots. They were 2-for-8 from the line in the first quarter. Chalk it up to great defense, maybe. No? OK.

First quarter, 5:44, Cavs 17-14: Bradley takes pride in being able to take the ball from just about any ballhandler, but he might want to avoid reaching for one night. Irving, maybe the sickest ballhandler the league has seen since a young Allen Iverson, easily dribbled behind his back to lose Bradley after a reach in the backcourt and fed Thompson for a simple push-shot.

On the offensive end, things are going better for the Celtics. They are generating good shots, whether they be jump shots for Bass or looks driving to the hoop for Green. The only bad news for them is that Green picked up two quick fouls, forcing him to the bench after hitting his first two shots.

6:55 p.m.: Kyrie Irving will be in action for the second straight game, playing through the aftereffects of a sprained shoulder. That gives this game at least some star power, since every other All-Star on either team’s roster will be out.

Paul Pierce, who played 33 minutes in Wednesday’s win over Detroit, is out with a sore ankle. He joins Kevin Garnett as unavailable All-Stars for the Celtics.

In more news that will probably disappoint some fans, the team has postponed the awarding of the Red Auerbach award to another night. What a shame.

The projected starters appear below.

Cavaliers
Tyler Zeller
Tristan Thompson
Alonzo Gee
Wayne Ellington
Kyrie Irving

Celtics
Chris Wilcox
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Courtney Lee
Avery Bradley

5:05 p.m.: The Celtics had their team photo this afternoon, which is only notable because Paul Pierce called the players back after their official photo to have another photo taken with the team’s ball boys.

Check it out in the tweet below.

Pierce insisted that all the Celtics take a team photo with the ball boys, too. http://t.co/sduixtY2fo

—
Ben Watanabe (@BenjeeBallgame) April 05, 2013

4:25 p.m.: With only four home games remaining, the Celtics will present the Red Auerbach award to a lucky Celtics player.

The team did not announce who would receive the award in a pregame ceremony, but if it goes to Kevin Garnett, he may have to accept it in street clothes. Garnett is still not expected to play, with Celtics coach Doc Rivers fingering Sunday’s game against the Wizards as a possible return date.

Jeff Green will stay in the starting lineup, which is not the worst news for the Celtics. Green is averaging 22.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 11 games as a starter, compared to 10.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists off the bench.

8 a.m. ET: The last time the Celtics and Cavaliers met up, Jeff Green provided a thrilling ending. The Celtics would probably prefer if things were not so exciting this time.

Having snapped their two-game losing streak with a victory over the Pistons on Wednesday, the Celtics (39-36) are back in action. Their opponent is the Cavs (22-52), who are having a forgettable season despite giving the Celtics three tough efforts this season. Stuck at the bottom of the Central Division, the Cavs have a shortage of talent, and that has been compounded by severe injuries to Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Anderson Varejao.

The Celtics cannot afford to take the Cavs — or any team — lightly, however. The Celtics hold just a 2 1/2-game edge on the Bucks for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference, and nobody wants to fall to eighth, which would mean taking on the powerhouse Heat in the first round. Kevin Garnett will not be back, but Celtics coach Doc Rivers seemed optimistic at practice on Thursday that Garnett would be back for Sunday’s game against Washington.

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden during the game, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Green finished up an all-around performance with 34 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots, but he made several timely plays that made the Celtics’ victory possible. What was once an 18-point lead became as close as three points in the waning seconds, as the Pistons outrebounded the Celtics 52-34 and dominated points in the paint (58-28) and second-chance points 26-7.

The Pistons also had 25 offensive rebounds. Greg Monroe put up 24 points and 17 rebounds against an overmatched Boston front line.

Fourth quarter, :12.8, Celtics 96-93: Green will not let the Celtics lose. The Pistons actually had a great offensive possession, swinging the ball around the perimeter to get the best 3-point look they could, before Villanueva rattled a shot in and out. Green grabbed the rebound, of course, and saved it as he fell out of bounds.

Fourth quarter, :29.5, Celtics 96-93: Yeah, forget that stuff about a productive offensive possession.

Terry took a tough three early in the shot clock, the Pistons grabbed the high rebound and Bradley touched the ball while trying to fight it away out of bounds. Pistons ball.

Fourth quarter, :44, Celtics 96-93: Do not tune out yet, everybody. Off an inbounds set play, Monroe galloped to the hoop for an easy dunk, forcing the Celtics to put together at least one more productive offensive possession to seal this game.

Fourth quarter, :45.3, Celtics 96-91: Jeff Green to the rescue.

After a series of awful possessions by both teams, including a botched open-court layup by Knight after a Celtics turnover, Green collected the ball in the left corner and buried a three to give the Celtics some breathing room.

Honestly, there is no way to do Knight’s missed layup justice. It was more embarrassing than his incident against DeAndre Jordan.

Fourth quarter, 2:28, Celtics 93-90: In a three-point game, the most intriguing battle might be between Rivers and referee Marc Davis.

After Green picked up a personal foul, Davis assessed Rivers a technical from halfway across the court, when Rivers did not even seem to be gesticulating all that much. Rivers continued to talk to Davis, who appeared to wave at Rivers from across the court in a “come at me” gesture.

In the next timeout, after Jonas Jerebko hit a three to pull the Pistons within three, Rivers walked briskly across the court toward Davis. But Davis turned and walked away.

Fourth quarter, 3:35, Celtics 91-83: It figures that on a night when Green often played like the only Celtics player with a pulse, he provides the life-saving shock to Boston’s system.

Green battled for a defensive rebound, ripping it from the hands of Monroe, then dished an outlet pass that turned into a 3-point attempt by Terry. The Jet’s shot rattled out, but Green streaked down the lane for the one-handed putback slam that might give the Celtics the boost they need.

Fourth quarter, 5:40, Celtics 85-80: Bradley had better be careful. He was very close to getting a technical foul after he picked up two questionable reach-in calls on the same possession. Bradley’s frustration is shared by some of his teammates, like Terry and Pierce, who are competing to the end. Some of his teammates, though, do not seem to have much emotion at all — thus the close score in what was once a blowout.

Fourth quarter, 9:21, Celtics 79-74: It is not often Shavlik Randolph gets late minutes because he is outplaying a teammate, but that is why Randolph is on the court at the moment. Wilcox has had a very rough night, as have all the Celtics in dealing with Detroit’s bigs. With less than 10 minutes left in the game, the Celtics are in real danger of having fewer total rebounds than Detroit has offensive rebounds.

The count right now: 26-24.

End of third quarter, Celtics 74-67: And this is a game again.

A very, very boring game.

The Pistons have whittled the Celtics’ 18-point lead down to seven heading into the fourth, and if Charlie Villanueva’s prayer half-courter had gotten closer than clanging off the backboard, this one could be even closer. The Celtics are in another yawnfest against the Pistons, and if recent history is an indication, that favors Detroit.

The Pistons won the two previous uninspired efforts between these teams, and the Celtics are back to sleepwalking against them. All that solid work on the glass in the second quarter is out the window. The Celtics were outrebounded 17-7 in the third quarter and let Detroit track down eight offensive boards in the third.

Third quarter, 7:08, Celtics 66-52: While Green goes off, Pierce is having a relatively easy night. Pierce probably is not complaining, since this is only two days removed from missing a game in Minnesota for personal reasons.

Pierce has 11 points on just seven shots, plus four assists, but has mostly been a bystander to Green and the rest of his Celtics teammates. Green is up to 19 points and Bradley canned a midrange jump shot to give him 11 points, giving Boston four players in double figures.

Halftime, Celtics 54-44: Once the Celtics stopped letting the Pistons grab every offensive rebound in sight, they actually had a fairly easy time pulling away.

After pulling down eight offensive boards in the first quarter, the Pistons were held to only two in the second quarter and saw their five-point lead disappear at the same time. Paced by Green, the Celtics continued to shoot well above 50 percent from the field and outscored the Pistons 29-14 in the frame, registering seven assists on their nine field goals. They committed only two turnovers in the second quarter.

Green leads to way with 14 points, tied for the game-high with Stuckey, who is bullying the smaller Boston guards. Bass is giving Detroit’s bigs trouble with his midrange game, which has opened up his first step to help him get to the hoop with ease. Bass has 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting.

Second quarter, 5:39, Celtics 42-35: Green will be taking back the lead for Boston, thank you very much.

With almost nothing coming from farther than five feet from the hoop, Green has 14 points to lead all scorers and put the Celtics back into the lead. His attacking has not only generated layups, but has given him five free throws as well.

Second quarter, 9:04, Pistons 34-32: Green got off to a hot start to the game, and he is still in attack mode at the start of the second quarter. Jason Terry, who has shown more aggressiveness off the bench lately, is also forcing the issue with five early points. His 3-pointer from the left corner briefly helped the Celtics tie the score.

The Celtics still need to work harder on the glass at both ends, though. They finally reached more total rebounds than the Pistons have offensive rebounds, but they still trail on the glass 15-10.

End of first quarter, Pistons 30-25: Here is a riddle for you: How does a team outshoot its opponent 58 percent to 48 percent, yet still trail by five points.

Answer: By getting absolutely reamed on the offensive glass.

At the end of the first quarter, the Pistons have eight offensive rebounds, one more than the number of total rebounds for the Celtics. The Pistons have 13 rebounds overall, while the Celtics have zero offensive boards (of course).

The Pistons, who we should mention are 25 games below .500, now have 18 points in the paint and eight assists on 12 field goals.

First quarter, 5:54, Pistons 16-11: We knew the Pistons would have a massive advantage in the post thanks to their size, but this is a bit ridiculous.

With Monroe and Drummond up front, the Pistons have seven offensive rebounds already. The Celtics have six rebounds total. As a result, Detroit already has 12 points in the paint.

The Celtics have a tailormade size mismatch with Rodney Stuckey defending Pierce. Although Stuckey has decent size and strength for a guard, Pierce has been able to shoot over him relatively easy for two simple jump shots. But the Celtics have been more aggressive going to Green, who scored the team’s first five points.

By the way, the Pistons announced late that Calderon will miss the game with a right arm injury. Stuckey, the pride of Eastern Washington University, got the start in his place, in case you were wondering why he was on the court so early. Fortunately for Stuckey, he got out of that place before it installed its bright red football field.

7:02 p.m.: Paul Pierce is a go, but Kevin Garnett still is an unsurprising scratch for the Celtics. We shall see if one of two is enough for the Celtics to snap their two-game losing streak and help turn around a recent rough stretch that has seen them drop seven of their last nine games.

Rajon Rondo made an appearance at the Garden, rocking a brace on his right knee. He declined to speak with reporters in the locker room before taking the court for come shots about an hour before game time.

Hey, look who it is getting some shots up at the Garden. http://t.co/nP57BMpfzI

—
Ben Watanabe (@BenjeeBallgame) April 03, 2013

Before you get your hopes up, no, Rondo is nowhere near being ready to play. Celtics coach Doc Rivers merely took it as a promising sign that Rondo was back in the Bay State. Rondo has been doing most of his rehab in Florida after undergoing season-ending surgery on the ACL in his right knee.

The projected starters appear below.

Pistons
Andre Drummond
Greg Monroe
Kyle Singler
Jose Calderon
Brandon Knight

Celtics
Chris Wilcox
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

8 a.m. ET: Things have not gone the Celtics’ way lately, either on the court or off.

The Celtics return to TD Garden on Wednesday hoping not only to get back in the win column but also to welcome back Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, who were out of commission on Monday. Pierce was back home to deal with a personal matter, and the Celtics hope it is just a one-game absence. Garnett, who has missed eight of the last 10 games, is tentatively scheduled to come back Friday. But Boston certainly would not object to him returning early.

If there is any welcome news for the Celtics (38-36), it is that their opponent is the Pistons (25-50). Following a 1-13 March, the Pistons started off April with a rare victory on Monday, but math tells us that still gives them a 1-14 record in their last 15 games.

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden during the game, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Final, Wolves 110-100: 

Pekovic stalked a career high in scoring before falling a basket short with 29 points. Rubio wrapped up a quietly impressive all-around game of nine points, 11 assists and only two turnovers as the Wolves earned a split in the two-game season series.

Avery Bradley led six Celtics in double figures with 19 points and the Celtics shot 52 percent from the field, but the offensive end was not the issue for them. Rather, their problems lied in a porous defense and a lack of focus with the ball. They committed more than twice as many turnovers than the Wolves, 17-9, and gave up 62 points in the paint.

Fourth quarter, 3:36, Wolves 102-91: The best thing that can be said right now for the Celtics defense is that Pekovic might not reach his new scoring high because there is no longer any reason for him to be on the court.

Pekovic is at 27 points, just four shy of tying his career high, but the Wolves could probably safely sit him now and not worry too much. Bradley has 19 points to lead the Celtics, but his second-highest scoring total of the season is useless if the Celtics do not stop turning the ball over or start clamping down defensively.

Fourth quarter, 7:45, Wolves 96-82: Players can sort of fake it on offense. There is no faking it on defense.

Williams, Crawford and Randolph are not completely comfortable in the Celtics’ offense, but they make up for it with playmaking, shooting and hustle, respectively. On defense, there is no making up for bad rotations or a lack of attention away from the ball. The Wolves, like any good Rick Adelman-coached team, are exploiting every weakness in Boston’s defense and look mighty comfortable with building this lead.

Fourth quarter, 10:18, Wolves 89-78: Well, that was fast. A terrible shot by Crawford and some equally terrible defense by Williams helped the Wolves burst back into a double-digit lead, and Rivers is none too happy.

End of third quarter, Wolves 84-78: After all that happened in the first three quarters, it is a minor miracle that the Celtics are within six points heading into the fourth.

The Celtics briefly narrowed the deficit to as little as five points on a three-point play by Terry, who got aggressive toward the end of the quarter. The Celtics shot 11-for-20 from the field in the frame, but they tossed the ball all over the place, committing seven turnovers to ramp up their total for the game to 14.

That carelessness helped the Wolves actually grow their lead by a point in the quarter, despite shooting 8-for-20 and getting beaten on the glass 11-4, and on the offensive glass 4-1.

Third quarter, 6:26, Wolves 74-62: For a while, the Wolves seemed like they might let this motley crew of Celtics to stick around. Now it looks like the Wolves will leave the Celtics in their dust.

The Wolves opened the second half by outscoring the Celtics by seven points of the first 5:34, extending their lead to a game-high dozen. Pekovic keeps piling up the points, but now he has help. Kirilenko, who opened the game with a three but scored just five more points the rest of the first half, has seven points already here in the second half.

Halftime, Wolves 57-52: As bad as the Celtics have looked, the Wolves are playing such atrocious defense to help them stay in it. Both teams cruise into the break hitting more than half their field goal attempts, and the paint is particularly friendly. Pek is up to a game-high 21 points and the Wolves own a 34-18 points-in-the-paint edge.

Bradley appears to have rediscovered his shot, although the token defense by Minnesota’s guards has a lot to do with that. Bradley is 6-for-8 from the field for 15 points, the only Celtics player with more than seven points.

Still, the Celtics are moving the ball around — nine players have scored for Boston — and they stopped turning it over in the latter half of the second quarter. This game is not entirely out of hand for them thanks to that.

Second quarter, 5:23, Wolves 39-36: Rivers had better be nice to the refs in this game, because they just helped him out. The refs looked at the video during the break and ruled that a three by Chase Budinger had occurred after the shot clock, so the Celtics are within one possession.

Second quarter, 5:31, Wolves 42-36: Green is doing all he can to help out the Wolves, not that they need his help.

Green turned the ball over on three consecutive plays, helping the otherwise defensively challenged Wolves to build their lead. Pekovic has not scored since the first quarter, but Minnesota has not needed him to. Their outside scorers have picked up the slack.

Second quarter, 8:50, Wolves 33-29: Though their deficit is only four points, the Celtics do not seem to be the team in control of this game. The Wolves have started to find their rhythm from deep, having hit two of their last four 3-point attempts, and they hold the advantage in rebounding, assists and free throw attempts. They simply look more “whole” than the Celtics, even though they are dealing with the significant absence of Kevin Love.

End of first quarter, Wolves 27-25: Pekovic is setting himself up for a career night against the Celtics’ depleted front line. He had 15 points in the first quarter and put both Wilcox and Randolph into early foul trouble with two and three fouls, respectively. Pretty much single-handedly, Pek has given the Wolves a 16-8 advantage of points in the paint.

The Celtics are hanging around despite a small lineup that is not doing so hot in protecting the rim. Jordan Crawford, surprisingly, is the only available backcourt player who has yet to see the court, as the Celtics will need all their guard depth to deal with Rubio, Ridnour and J.J. Barea. For now, holding the Wolves to 0-for-5 shooting from 3-point range is helping the Celtics a lot.

First quarter, 5:04, Wolves 17-13: Nikola Pekovic, who was questionable with a sprained ankle, ended up being healthy enough to start, which meant no early floor time for the Stiemer. Ah, well. The former Celtics center should get plenty of chances to play in the rest of the game.

Both Bradley and Lee are having a heck of a time slowing down Rubio, who has roughly a million turnovers after seven minutes. All right, so he only has four, almost all of which seem to have found Pekovic in the paint. Pek has nine points on 4-for-5 shooting as he and Rubio are clearly targeting Shavlik Randolph, who made a quick appearance off the bench after Wilcox committed two fouls in the first four minutes.

6:51 p.m.: Paul Pierce was never really expected to suit up for the Celtics on Monday, and Sunday’s late-game ankle soreness pretty much assured that. But now there is an extra element to Pierce’s absence in Minnesota.

Pierce left the team after its loss in New York, the team announced, and headed home for “personal reasons.” It was not clear what those reasons were, but we can only hope that everything is OK with Pierce’s family. He will not play, of course.

Kevin Garnett is with the team, but he also is not expected in uniform. The Celtics will have a makeshift starting lineup once again, with Courtney Lee returning to the starting five for the first time since March 22, when he sprained his ankle late in a loss to the Mavericks.

The projected starters appear below.

Celtics
Chris Wilcox
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Courtney Lee
Avery Bradley

Timberwolves
Greg Stiemsma
Derrick Williams
Andrei Kirilenko
Luke Ridnour
Ricky Rubio

8 a.m. ET: The Celtics need another injury like they need a hole in the head.

Wait, that was a bad choice of words. At this rate, someone on the Celtics might actually have a hole in the head before long.

Paul Pierce is expected to be sidelined as the shorthanded Celtics (38-35) visit the Timberwolves (26-46), who know a thing or two about debilitating injury trouble. The Wolves, who sit in the cellar of the Northwest Division, have been missing All-Star power forward Kevin Love since early January and sustained lengthy injury absences for Chase Budinger, Ricky Rubio, Andrei Kirilenko and others. Brandon Roy appeared in just five games this season in his failed comeback from retirement, which had been related to supposedly career-ending knee trouble.

The Wolves therefore are unlikely to have much sympathy for the Celtics, who are also expected to be without Kevin Garnett, who is still nursing an inflammed left ankle. Pierce sat out the final 13 minutes of Sunday’s loss in New York with a sore right ankle, and Courtney Lee just returned from a sprained left ankle. It is safe to say the Celtics and ankles in general are not on good terms at the moment.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

Pierce and Green combined for 51 points, and Pierce added 15 rebounds on a night the Knicks had no trouble putting the ball in the hoop. The Celtics’ defense had a lot to do with that, of course, especially beyond the arc. The Knicks shot 14-for-27 from long range, allowing them earn the win despite the Celtics beating them 38-22 on points in the paint.

Carmelo Anthony lead the Knicks with 24 points, while J.R. Smith had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Chris Copeland added 22 points off the bench, because of course he would.

The biggest worry might be Pierce’s right ankle, which he was icing on the bench late in the game. The team said the ankle was just sore, but keep an eye on that. Ankle trouble is going around on the Celtics lately — it’s not contagious, is it? — and we would not be surprised to see Pierce sit out Monday’s game in Minnesota.

Fourth quarter, 5:44, Knicks 97-75: Rivers apparently opted for the “rest” option. D.J. White took to the court, while Pierce could be seen removing his sneaker and icing his right ankle. Considering the Celtics’ recent history with ankles, that is somewhat of a worrisome sign for them.

Anyway, let’s see what these guys can do.

Fourth quarter, 7:29, Knicks 94-73: Sending out Crawford, Williams, Wilcox and Lee onto the floor with Green, Rivers is almost forcing somebody other than Green or Pierce to prove they can score. So far, the results are iffy.

Pierce, who is on the bench, has combined with Green to score 51 of Boston’s 73 points. On four straight possessions, the Celtics took looooong jumpers early in the shot clock, helping the Knicks work their lead up above 20 points. The Celtics need a Memphis-like boost from somebody like Crawford or to pack it in for the night and rest up for Monday’s game in Minny.

End of third quarter, Knicks 86-69: Bradley remains one of the best perimeter defenders in the game, but for the third time in four games, an opposing point guard is having a relatively easy time getting past him. That trickles down to the rest of the guards, as Williams and Crawford have been no less effective in keeping Felton out of the paint.

Felton’s penetration is opening up his teammate for all sorts of open shots. Barring that, Felton is taking the shot himself. He is 6-for-10 from the field and 3-for-6 from three to put up 18 points, the second-most of any New York player. Anthony leads the way for the Knicks with 20 points.

Pierce and Green continue to provide an inordinate amount of the Celtics’ scoring. That is even true at the foul line, where those two are 13-for-18 on free throws. Terry, who is 1-for-1, is the only other Celtic to go to the line.

Third quarter, 5:22, Knicks 77-64: Green and Pierce have 44 points combined, while the rest of the Celtics have just 20. They have gotten a bit more balance on offense to begin the second half, and twice worked the deficit down to 11 points, but those pushes were brief. The Knicks continue to shoot well from the floor and are not getting shy on their threes.

The Knicks are just 1-for-6 from downtown in the second half, as the Celtics are defending marginally better.

Halftime, Knicks 65-48: The Knicks are red-hot from beyond the arc, and not just because Felton hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer. Without doing anything all that special on offense, the Knicks are 11-of-15 on 3-pointers and have a 17-point advantage as a result.

The Knicks are getting open with basic drive-and-kicks and some pick-and-roll stuff way out on the perimeter, and the Celtics are just doing a terrible job of helping and rotating. Good things are happening on offense for the Celtics when they attack the basket. (They hold a 26-12 advantage in points in the paint.) Green in particular is having success against Anthony’s weak defense, but all the twos in the world will not win a game when the other team gets open threes whenever it wants.

Anthony leads everybody with 18 points, while Green is right behind him with 16 points.

The Celtics are getting outworked on the glass, even with Martin heading out with a strained abdominal muscle. He may return, according to the team, but the Knicks might not even need him if the Celtics keep defending the perimeter as poorly as they did in the first half.

Second quarter, 5:46, Knicks 48-35: Randolph has his work cut out for him if he wants to come anywhere close to his performance of two days ago. Not only has he yet to crack the box score in any good ways, he has looked out of position and a step late on defense several times.

Similarly, the entire Celtics team looks lost on defense. They left Steve Novak, who is sort of a really good shooter, wide open beyond the arc twice. Novak made them pay both times.

Second quarter, 7:06, Knicks 44-34: Smith took a while to heat up, but he seems to be feeling it now. Chris Copeland, who popped off the bench to hit his first three shots (including two 3-pointers), may have inspired Smith.

Smith is now 3-for-5 from the field and drew a tough and-one in the paint against Lee. Playing in his second game back since injuring his left ankle, Lee is moving reasonably well and has six points off moving without the ball and running the floor. He lightly dunked home an oop pass on the break by Crawford, who is having a difficult time keeping Felton out of the paint.

End of first quarter, Knicks 28-23: It took almost seven minutes of floor time, but Smith finally notched his first basket of the game. With 0.6 seconds on the clock, Smith shook Terrence Williams out of his sneakers and drilled a step-back jumper to cap off the first quarter.

Coming off his near-double-double against the Hawks, Shavlik Randolph is off the bench early again in New York. He has not had nearly the impact thus far statistically — he has not scored or grabbed a rebound in about three minutes — but his size is helpful as the Celtics are going to need a big body to bring some energy. Martin has outworked many of the big men he has played against. Randolph cannot allow that to happen here.

As for the players most fans can identify without a program, Anthony is rolling along, as usual. He has a game-high 12 points as the Knicks are still shooting better than 50 percent from the field.

First quarter, 5:50, Knicks 16-14: Nobody is doing a whole of missing so far, which makes sense. Putting the ball in the hoop is sort of the point of this sport, or so I’ve heard.

The teams have combined to shoot 12-for-21 from the field, and no one has been as aggressive as Green — not even Anthony. Green is the early scoring leader with seven points, and his only miss was a Martin rejection when Green attempted a turnaround jumper against Felton in the post.

Lee checked into the game a little less than a minute ago. After starting with a relatively “big” lineup with Pierce at the two, the Celtics are now really small with Bass nominally at center with Pierce, Green, Bradley and Lee.

7:03 p.m.: Hopefully, you have all recovered from Kevin Ware’s gruesome injury. I certainly have not. Still, the Celtics do have a game to play, even if it is admittedly a little tough to do anything but hope everything works out for the kid.

In far-less-gut-wrenching injury news, Courtney Lee will again be available but will not start. Lee played just six minutes in Friday’s win over Atlanta, which was all the Celtics really needed out of him thanks to the play of Terrence Williams and Jason Terry. Kevin Garnett, who is dealing with inflammation in his left ankle, will sit out for the seventh time in nine games. Garnett is also expected to miss Monday’s game in Minnesota.

For the second straight game, the opponent will help out the Celtics a bit by sitting their best big man. Tyson Chandler will miss the game with back spasms, following the Hawks’ Al Horford, who was unavailable Friday with a stomach illness.

No such luck on Knicks coach Mike Woodson resting J.R. Smith, too. The reserve guard has scored more than 30 points off the bench in three straight games, including Tuesday’s 32-point performance in Boston.

The projected starters appear below.

Celtics
Chris Wilcox
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

Knicks
Kenyon Martin
Carmelo Anthony
Iman Shumpert
Pablo Prigioni
Raymond Felton

8 a.m. ET: The last team to beat the Celtics prior to their current two-game win streak was the Knicks. Jeff Green and company have a chance to change that Sunday.

In a special Easter edition of the NBA’s best traditional rivalry, the Celtics (38-34) and the Knicks (45-26) will face off at Madison Square Garden. This is the fourth and final meeting of the year between these teams, and the Celtics need a victory to salvage a split.

Jason Terry and Shavlik Randolph came up big for the Celtics in their last game, while Green and Paul Pierce put together strong performances that are becoming commonplace for them. The Celtics will need similar efforts to beat the Knicks, who have won seven consecutive games despite dealing with injuries to a number of key players. The Knicks have not lost at home since March 9, so the Celtics have their work cut out for them.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Final, Celtics 118-107:

Jeff Green scored a game-high 27 points and Jason Terry added 24 points on 7-for-10 shooting off the bench as the Celtics earned their second consecutive win. Shavlik Randolph helped the Celtics maintain the lead by delivering effort during the middle portions of the game, when the Celtics occasionally have lulls. Randolph came within one point of his first double-double, with nine points and 13 rebounds in 21 quality minutes. Pierce checked in with 20 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

Josh Smith had 18 quiet points as the Celtics took the season series, 3-1, and earned the valuable head-to-head tiebreaker for home court advantage in the playoffs, in the event they can catch Atlanta in the Eastern Conference standings.

Fourth quarter, 1:56, Celtics 114-101: OK, Celtics fans. You can all now safely relax.

With a fadeaway corner three by Green just before the shot clock expired and a step-back jumper by Pierce, the Celtics are back in control with less than two minutes to play. The Hawks are throwing the ball around, and if Jones’ lackadaisical effort to catch an errant pass by Shelvin Mack was any indication, they do not really seem that interested in protecting the ball.

Fourth quarter, 5:31, Celtics 105-94: One positive that may come out of the late-season injuries for the Celtics is that Green and Terry, who underachieved for much of the season, have been forced to step up. Both have 22 points to lead all scorers, with Terry stepping up with a 3-pointer out of a frantic loose-ball stretch to restore Boston’s double-digit lead.

Fourth quarter, 7:32, Celtics 98-92: And suddenly, it is just a six-point game.

This has the feeling of a game where the Celtics blow a sizable lead. It has had that feeling for most of the game, even when the Celtics lead by more than twice the current number. Pierce is stuck on 16 points, and the Celtics will need him to contribute more offensively to put this one away. A bunch of nice hustle plays by Randolph are not going to cut it.

Fourth quarter, 8:21, Celtics 98-87: If the Celtics just play with the same energy as Randolph the rest of the way, they will be in good shape. They cannot afford a letdown, as the Hawks showed in their previous meetings, but as long as Randolph is throwing his weight around, they might not have to worry about that.

Randolph is still a point shy of his double-double, but he is now up to 13 boards. Thanks in large part to his energy, the Celtics now lead by a healthy 10-point margin in points in the paint, 44-34, and have edged ahead in overall rebounds 34-33.

End of third quarter, Celtics 92-80: While Randolph is getting the biggest cheers — he is now one point away from a double-double — Green is continuing to blossom into the player Danny Ainge felt he could be when he inked Green to that allegedly terrible contract last summer. Green has 20 points to lead all scorers after three quarters, while Pierce is stalking a triple-double with 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.

The question is, which would be more impressive, a triple-double by Pierce or a double-double by Randolph, considering one of those guys was playing in China two months ago?

Third quarter, 2:41, Celtics 83-73: Randolph may just be playing himself into a rotation spot for the playoffs. Amazing as it may seem, the former 10-day signee has played a major role in the Celtics building this lead, which hit 15 points at one stretch.

Randolph has seven points, nine rebounds, and a block, plus four fouls. That last number is not necessarily bad, as Randolph at least is not giving Atlanta anything easy down low. The Hawks’ shooting percentage has dipped to 42 percent and the Celtics have taken the lead in points in the paint for the first time all game.

Halftime, Celtics 66-56: The Jet is flying early in this one.

Terry, who only likes to bust out his “JET” flight motion at very special moments, struck his pose in the first half as the Celtics sprinted into an 11-point lead at one time. Terry has a team-high 16 points on 5-for-7 shooting, tying Smith for the most points scored by any player in the game.

The Celtics’ spurt included another slam by Williams and some more hustle by Randolph. The Celtics are shooting nearly 57 percent from the field and have only six turnovers at the break.

Still, they need to shore up the defensive end if they want to put these Hawks away. Remember, these guys have already gone to overtime and double-overtime this season, and for all the roaring from the TD Garden crowd, this is only a 10-point game.

Second quarter, 7:28, Celtics 42-40: Despite interior defense that would be bad, if it even existed, the Celtics are pushing the pace when they get the ball and hold an ever-so-slim lead almost halfway through the second quarter. Shavlik Randolph, who is getting some significant minutes here early on, has provided some energy off the bench, which is all the Celtics really need down low.

Terrence Williams, the backup point guard of the future, caught the ball on the break, cradled it and threw down a tomahawk dunk to give the Celtics their lead. The crowd loves it, but if the Celtics do their work early on defense, they will give their fans more plays like that to cheer about.

End of first quarter, Celtics 32-30: Things certainly improved quickly for Green, who followed his 0-for-4 start by hitting three of his last four shots in the first quarter. He has been more aggressive than anybody on the floor except Josh Smith, who has put up 12 shots in the first 12 minutes.

Both teams had some success shooting the ball, with the Celtics well over 50 percent from the field and the Hawks close at 48 percent. Teague in particular has given the Celtics fits. No guard gets by Avery Bradley as consistently easily as Teague. The Celtics have done a decent job of protecting the rim with blocked shots, but it would be more helpful to them if they would just stop the ball in transition.

First quarter, 7:49, game tied 9-9: Jeff Green has come out with aggression, taking the ball strong to the hoop and putting up four shots already. Unfortunately for him, the iron has been unkind and he missed all four of those shots.

The makeshift backcourt of Pierce and Bradley has his back, though. Bradley already has two steals, including a tip-away that led to a run-out layup for Pierce to tie the game.

Atlanta went with an interesting starting five of Teague, Smith, DeShawn Stevenson, Johan Petro and Ivan Johnson, and it has led to some weird matchups. The Hawks have already used Johnson and Petro on post-ups on the left block. Technically they had mismatches because their defenders were smaller, but neither is really known for his offensive post game, so giving either of them the ball is probably just what the Celtics wanted the Hawks to do.

6:53 p.m.: The mounting injuries have taken a psychological toll on the Celtics, but they get a small emotional boost with the return of Courtney Lee. The fifth-year guard said he will test his sprained ankle, although Doc Rivers said he will bring the Western Kentucky product off the bench.

6:17 p.m.: The Celtics will not have to worry about one big part of their game plan against the Hawks. Horford, who has always presented problems for Boston with his size and midrange shooting ability, is out with a stomach illness. Ivan Johnson, Garnett’s good friend (not), will start in Horford’s place.

4:28 p.m.: The Celtics are assured of being shorthanded. The question is just how shorthanded they will be.

With Kevin Garnett still sidelined with inflammation in his left ankle, Courtney Lee took part in shootaround Friday morning. He is being called a game-time decision with a sprained left ankle. For now, the Celtics have listed the same five starters that opened Wednesday’s game in Cleveland. But the listing is infamously unreliable, so be sure the check back before the game with the actual starters and an update on Lee’s status.

The projected starters appear below.

Hawks
Al Horford
Josh Smith
Anthony Tolliver
Kyle Korver
Jeff Teague

Celtics
Chris Wilcox
Brandon Bass
Paul Pierce
Jeff Green
Avery Bradley

8 a.m. ET: Jeff Green and the Celtics better have gotten their rest, because fresh off a buzzer-beating win over the Cavaliers, they get to host a foe who never makes things easy on them.

The Celtics (37-34) have played the Hawks (40-32) three times this season, and two of those three games have needed more than the regulation 48 minutes to get settled. Most recently, the Celtics survived a 107-102 overtime win at TD Garden on March 8 to give them a 2-1 advantage in the series.

That head-to-head record is important because the Celtics come into Friday 2 1/2 games behind the Hawks, who they are chasing for the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. By beating Atlanta in their final regular-season meeting, the Celtics could claim the tiebreaker in the event both teams finish with identical records.

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden during the game, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Final, Celtics 93-92:

The Cavs, playing solid defense, knocked the ball out of Jason Terry’s hands and out of bounds with two seconds left and the Celtics trailing by one point. Because the Celtics had no timeouts, they could not draw up a play for the game-winning shot.

But, wait. The officials called for a replay review, essentially granting the Celtics a free timeout and Doc Rivers a chance to draw up one of his classic inbounds plays. Terry came through with a seal screen on Luke Walton, who was defending Jeff Green, and Green rolled from the top of the key to the hoop for the winning layup. This is Green’s second game-winning layup in the last 21 days and snaps a five-game losing streak for the Celtics.

Brandon Bass led the Celtics with 22 points, while Green had 21 points and seven rebounds. Paul Pierce added 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, although he battled turnover trouble all game and finished with seven turnovers. The Celtics flipped a switch at halftime, holding the Cavs to just one offensive rebound after the break and committing only five of their 15 turnovers in the second half.

Fourth quarter, :09.2, Cavs 92-91: Paul Anthony Pierce. He gives the Celtics a chance.

Pierce dribbled, backed down, spun, leaned, turned and faded away before hitting a short jump shot to pull the Celtics within one. Terry, in a rare appearance as a defensive stopper, then forced Livingston into a miss that Boston gobbled up.

Fourth quarter, :39, Cavs 92-89: Hold up, now this is something completely different.

Pierce canned a pair of freebies and Green completed a three-point play to make it a one-point game, but after Crawford and Green missed shots on a couple of no-calls, the Cavs were able to give themselves some breathing room. In both cases, Crawford and Green spent a bit too long complaining to the refs, and the Celtics were lucky the Cavs did not capitalize on their numbers the first time.

Fourth quarter, 2:16, Cavs 90-84: The Celts are still alive, but the “beep beep” on the life support monitor is getting faint. Pierce will be headed to the free throw line for a chance to cut this to a four-point game, but the Celtics are still trying to find consistent defensive stops to make this feel real. On the last few possessions, the Cavs bailed them out by taking tough, contested shots.

Fourth quarter, 5:08, Cavs 88-78: Rivers cleared the bench of his starters, clearly giving it one last go at winning the game. But the Celtics may have already dug themselves too deep a hole to pull out of this time. All the crazy shots by Crawford in the world will not matter unless the Celtics start shoring things up defensively. The Cavs are shooting 19 for 29 — yup, they have missed 10 shots — in the second half.

Fourth quarter, 10:05, Cavs 79-70: The Cavs must have read “How to Shoot Threes” from cover to cover during halftime, because they are toasty hot. After going 2-for-8 from deep in the first half, the Cavs are 4-for-6 since, with two triples by Daniel Gibson.

At the same time, Ellington is continuing the trend of the 2006 Episcopal Academy boys’ basketball team tearing up the Celtics this year. Ellington has 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting and two steals thus far. He was a high school teammate of Bobcats guard Gerald Henderson. We won’t bother reminding you what Henderson did to the Celtics earlier this season.

End of third quarter, Cavs 73-67: Crawford’s imprint is all over this game, for both good and bad. He has dribbled the ball off his foot, stolen it back, hit an ill-advised jump shot and tossed in a floater at the buzzer to end the third quarter.

To show for all his trouble, he and the Celtics have… a six-point deficit, unchanged for most of the third quarter.

The Celtics have fewer turnovers than their opponent for once, but they are getting beaten up on the offensive glass 9-2, as usual. Like Crawford’s contributions, every step forward comes with a step backward for Boston.

Third quarter, 3:19, Cavs 66-60: The Celtics insist they are not feeling sorry for themselves with all their injuries, but eventually they have to prove it. Falling behind the cellar-dwelling Cavs by 12 points is not the way to do that.

Green, Bass and Terry are trying something, though. Bass and Green got to the foul line and Terry hit a pull-up three on the break to prompt a quick timeout from Cavs coach Byron Scott. Wins are a rare commodity for the Cavs, who have lost five straight, and Scott does not want to let an opportunity at a “W” slip away.

Third quarter, 9:02, Cavs 56-50: The Celtics would never blow a 12-point lead and lose to the Cavs.

Would they?

The Cavs have burst out of the halftime gate on an 11-4 run, sprinting into the lead while the Celtics mostly stand flat-footed. Ellington, Livingston and Zeller are now in double figures after contributing to the early second-half effort.

Halftime, Celtics 46-45: Gee has a spot reserved on “Shaqtin’ a Fool” after muffing a layup that would have helped Cleveland lead at the half. That’s what Gee gets for trying to shoot a layup. The dude is a dunker, so he should throw it down. That’s what I would do if I had his ups, anyway.

Missed layup or not, the Cavs succeeded in wiping out most of their deficit in the second quarter. They improved their shooting accuracy to 38 percent for the game by shooting 11-for-27 from the floor in the quarter. (Yeah, the Cavs are such a dreadful shooting team, going 11-for-27 is an improvement.)

Bass scored seven points in the quarter to tie Pierce for the team-high of 11 points, but Pierce is having far from a standout game. Despite recording seven boards and five assists, Pierce also has six turnovers. That is just one fewer than Cleveland has as a team. That helps explain why the Cavs are only down by one point even with their poor shooting.

Second quarter, 5:26, Celtics 36-30: The Cavs are an awful team shooting-wise, but even they can hit point-blank layups (most of the time). The Celtics gave up two layups to Gee and a baby hook by Speights, who was fouled the next time he touched the ball, to give the Cavs a 7-1 run spurred by the two best shots in the game — layups and free throws.

Second quarter, 7:41, Celtics 35-23: Things just keep getting uglier for the Cavs and brighter for the Celtics.

The Cavs are now down to 29 percent from the field, after Speights airballed a turnaround hook shot against Randolph. In the meantime, a three by Pierce and a wild jumper by Jordan Crawford has put the Celtics in the lead by a dozen for the first time all game. The Celts have hit exactly half their shots and have 11 assists on 12 buckets.

Second quarter, 8:43, Celtics 29-23: Upon further review, Speights’ jumper late in the first quarter did not count. No matter. The shoot-first big man quickly got on the board with a running jumper/floater/layup thing to pull the Cavs within four points.

The Celtics’ second unit has put some more space between them and the Cavs, though. Terrence Williams hit a physical layup and Shavlik Randolph, who is playing with energy on both ends, drew a shooting foul and split the free throws.

End of first quarter, Celtics 24-20: Things are going Green’s way tonight. That became obvious when he caught the ball on an inbounds pass with only two seconds on the shot clock, fired up a fallaway 3-pointer and rattled it home. This could be one of those games for the Georgetown product, and it would come at just the right time for the Celtics.

Green has a game-high nine points after the first quarter, in which the Celtics led by as many as nine points before they got careless toward the end. They gave up a corner three to C.J. Miles and a buzzer-beating jumper by Marreese Speights to up Cleveland’s shooting percentage a smidgen below 35 percent for the game.

The Cavs’ inaccuracy is partly due to Boston’s defense, but largely because they are just not a good shooting team. They are the second-worst shooting team, field-goal percentage-wise, in the NBA. They have attempted the 11th-most field goals and have made the seventh-fewest, so that says a lot.

First quarter, 2:36, Celtics 17-13: Green was pretty much the only Celtic who could claim to have had a “good” game Tuesday against the Knicks. He didn’t claim that, though, because he tends to be in a bad mood after losses, no matter how he plays.

Still, he seems to have carried his 19-point, 10-rebound, six-assist effort over into another day. Green made two nice left-handed layups as he and Pierce are presenting some problems for the Cavs. But Cleveland, an outstanding offensive rebounding team, is already showing signs of giving Boston trouble in that respect. The Cavs have three offensive boards to the Celtics’ zero.

First quarter, 6:16, Celtics 12-9: The Celtics’ new look has led to some crazy matchups, such as Thompson trying to defend Green on the perimeter and Pierce trying to defend the much more athletic Gee in the high post. Nobody seems to be enjoying things as much as Zeller, though, who is having a field day against Boston’s makeshift front line.

Zeller has hit his first two shots and has four rebounds, two offensive, in the first six minutes. He has been the best front-line post player on the floor, although the Celtics own an 8-4 advantage in points in the paint.

6:45 p.m.: Courtney Lee is still out, joining Kevin Garnett on the list of Celtics with ankle issues. One night after Doc Rivers inserted Jordan Crawford into the starting lineup, though, the Celtics coach has taken a different tack with his starting five.

Chris Wilcox will get his first start of the season, and just his fifth start in 78 games as a Celtic, while Paul Pierce will effectively shift to shooting guard. This is a highly different starting lineup for Boston, but it is not that different from other lineups Rivers has used during games. Jeff Green and Pierce often share the floor in an effective 2-3 pairing, even though both are natural small forwards.

The projected starters appear below.

Celtics
Chris Wilcox
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

Cavaliers
Tyler Zeller
Tristan Thompson
Alonzo Gee
Wayne Ellington
Shaun Livingston

8 a.m. ET: Nobody was tougher on the Celtics than themselves after they tottered through a loss to the Knicks on Tuesday. They have little time to feel sorry for themselves, however, as they hit the court again Wednesday against the Cavs.

No matter what the record says, the Cavs are no pushover. Although they have battled injury trouble, as every team has, including the extended absence of Kyrie Irving, the Cavs have made some really good teams sweat it out. Just ask the Heat, who needed to come back from a 27-point deficit to keep their now-27-game win streak alive.

The Celtics hope they do not fall behind by that much, mostly because they are ill-equipped to come back from the type of hole. Courtney Lee’s status is expected to be a game-time decision.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 7 p.m. ET.

Carmelo Anthony had 29 points, eight rebounds and three steals, while J.R. Smith put up a game-high 32 points and added seven boards to boot. The Celtics were dominated on the offensive glass 15-7 and in second-chance points 29-6 as they dropped their fifth straight. New York’s lead in the Atlantic Division grew to 7 1/2 games.

The Celtics now have some time to lick their wounds. Oh wait, no they don’t. They are back at it Wednesday, without Kevin Garnett and potentially without Courtney Lee. Paul Pierce will also be dog tired after playing 36 minutes here.

Fourth quarter, 2:40, Knicks 98-83: Shavlik Randolph, finally in the game while Pierce takes a seat, nabbed an offensive rebound. It was a shock the referees did not call for a video review to make sure it actually happened.

The Celtics have just seven offensive rebounds in the game and only three in the second half. They are getting decimated in second-chance points 27-4, with Anthony leading all players with six offensive boards. Martin and Smith also have four apiece.

Fourth quarter, 5:19, Knicks 93-76: While the deficit grows, Pierce is still out there and shows no signs of coming out soon. He has now logged more than 32 minutes and a road game awaits Wednesday, but Pierce’s night appears to be far from through. Meanwhile, New York’s lead is up to 17 points, its largest lead of the game.

Fourth quarter, 8:48, Knicks 88-73: Welcome to your regularly scheduled comeback fueled by guys who were not on the team at the beginning of the season.

Williams, who teamed with Crawford to put a scare into Memphis last weekend, has the Celtics’ first four points of the fourth quarter and is headed to the line for two foul shots after getting fouled by Smith on a drive. Maybe this is part of Rivers’ new game plan.

End of third quarter, Knicks 84-69: Green has made strides this season with his defense, and Pierce can still lock down an elite scorer like Anthony every now and then. But both look utterly helpless without Garnett anchoring the back of the defense.

Garnett does more than just defend the rim and push pick-and-roll ballhandlers away from the paint. He also lets his teammates know what is coming as far as screens, offensive player movement, etc. Him not being there is having an effect on guys like Green and Pierce, who look uncertain that a blind screen will not chop them down as they try to guard Anthony.

At the end of 36 minutes, Anthony and Smith have taken 44 shots together. Terry gave the Celtics signs of life with a three with 6.1 seconds left in the quarter, but Smith answered with a 30-footer to silence the crowd.

Third quarter, 3:44, Knicks 74-62: The fans do not like it, but this has been a remarkably evenly officiated game. Anthony and Bradley are both getting tossed around a bit, and the Celtics fans did not like the offensive foul Crawford committed when he barreled into a stationary Kidd, but Mike Callahan’s crew has done a solid job.

Third quarter, 6:50, Knicks 67-60: The Celtics are as close as they have been since the first half, but for the most part they are just exchanging baskets with the Knicks. New York will take that all night.

The Celtics finally put together consecutive scores, if not necessarily baskets, when a pair of Green free throws preceded an open-court dunk by Pierce. Martin was then called for a dubious goaltend on a Green layup attempt, and the Celtics are back within three possessions. Still, they need to clamp down defensively before they make any further progress.

And when they do defend, they need to clean up on the defensive glass. The Knicks have a 19-4 edge in second-chance points. The Celtics are shooting 54 percent from the field and still trailing, so that should tell you something.

Halftime, Knicks 58-44: Has anyone ever argued that the Celtics are better off without Garnett? Because if they have, they have no idea what they are talking about.

In a battle of small forwards and not-quite-true point guards, the Knicks are beating the Celtics inside and out. They have 10 more points in the paint, and although they have only one more 3-pointer, they have forced the Celtics to miss eight of their 11 attempts from deep. The Celtics are trying to match shots, and that is something they cannot do given their lack of depth.

Smith leads everybody with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while Anthony has 18 points on 7-for-16 shooting. Smith also has six boards, but no assists because, come on, this is J.R. Smith we are talking about.

Crawford leads the Celtics with 11 points. Pierce and Green are 5-for-14 combined from the field. That duo has to get going offensively for Boston to make a push in the second half.

Second quarter, 5:40, Knicks 44-35: Rivers called a smart timeout just now. The timing was good because this game is starting to get away from the Celtics a little bit. The Knicks are on a 9-0 run, and even when the Celtics force the Knicks to miss shots, they are not finishing the possession. Smith already has two tip-ins of his own misses.

Those lapses have to be discouraging for the Celtics, who are the better team in terms of moving the ball. The Celtics have 11 assists on their 14 field goals, while the Knicks have just four assists on their 17 makes. At the same time, the Knicks only have one turnover because the ball is almost never out of someone’s hands. The good comes with the bad, I guess.

Second quarter, 8:45, Knicks 33-31: Jason Terry is having a very Jason Terry game.

Prior to the game, Rivers joked about how rare it is for a player to prefer coming off the bench. That is Terry. Despite Lee’s absence, Rivers went with Crawford in the starting lineup in part because the veteran out of Arizona likes coming off the pine.

So far, Terry has all seven points for Boston in the quarter, helping the Celtics briefly take a one-point lead before J.R. Smith responded with a old-fashioned three-point play. Terry also has shot two airballs, though, giving the Celtics four in the game, but an unofficial count.

End of first quarter, Knicks 28-24: What started as an inept display of something or other — it certainly was not “basketball” — morphed into a surprisingly entertaining first 12 minutes.

With 12 lead changes, four ties and nine fastbreak points, the Celtics and Knicks gave a sparse crowd reason to cheer. The fans did not always comply, though. For an intra-division matchup between two classic rivals, this crowd needs a shot of adrenaline. About a quarter of the stands appears to be filled with blue and orange, and there are multiple Earl Monroe and Walt Frazier jerseys. Even the Knicks fans seem subdued, though.

First quarter, 2:47, Celtics 18-17: Perhaps we spoke to soon. Since their cold start, these guys are on an absolute scoring spree. In a one-minute stretch, starting with a Martin dunk and a Green tip-in of his own miss, these teams scored 13 points. They are 13-for-23 from the field since beginning 0-for-8, and Anthony is already 4-for-8 from the floor. (He has taken half as many shots — 14 — as the Celtics have taken as a team.)

First quarter, 5:38, Knicks 9-8: Okie dokie. This sure has been fun.

The teams combined to miss their first eight shots before Anthony hit a layup and Pierce answered with a 3-pointer. Even with a relative offensive explosion since then, these guys are still 7-for-20 from the field with three turnovers. Bass executed the age-old move of tipping the ball out of bounds while trying to grab a rebound, and Bradley drove the lane and somehow tossed the ball off the side of the backboard.

On the bright side, the Perkins School for the Blind chorus sang the national anthem before the game. That was pretty cool.

6:32 p.m.: Celtics coach Doc Rivers and Knicks coach Mike Woodson had opposite takes on the importance of winning the Atlantic Division, in which the Knicks hold a comfortable lead for first place. Rivers said the division never really mattered to him, even when a division crown was a pipe dream in Orlando and certain years in Boston.

Woodson disagreed, sort of. He agreed with Rivers that what happens in the playoffs ultimately matters more, but said that the division is not a bad goal in the meantime.

“At the end of the day, we’re in this for one thing and that’s to win an NBA title,” Woodson said. “Winning the division puts you in a position to host the first round, and if you get that second spot, you can host the second round, so there’s a lot at stake.”

Chandler officially is out and will be replaced by Martin in the starting lineup. Rivers informed reporters that Jordan Crawford will start in place of Lee, who tested his ankle a few hours before the game but did not feel it was ready.

5:53 p.m.: It now appears that Courtney Lee will be a no-go. The guard was shooting around on the Garden court around 4:30 p.m., but he says he will not suit up tonight for the Celtics.

Courtney Lee was on the Garden floor taking shots about 2 1/2 hours before tip off, but he says he's not playing tonight.

—
Ben Watanabe (@BenjeeBallgame) March 26, 2013

4:28 p.m.: While Garnett sits, whether Chandler plays could have a huge impact on this game’s proceedings. Chandler is one of the few centers in the NBA, along with Dwight Howard, Roy Hibbert, Larry Sanders and Andrew Bogut (when healthy), who are in the conversation with Garnett as the league’s best defensive big men. Because of that, his impact is obvious.

Chandler brings something to the table that not all of those others guys do, however. Other than Howard, none of them are as dangerous a finisher out of the pick and roll as Chandler, and his presence completely changes the dynamic of the Knicks’ offense. If he plays while Garnett, one of the best pick-and-roll defenders ever, takes a seat, the Celtics could be in trouble.

Even if Chandler is out, the Knicks have a solid fallback in Kenyon Martin. The veteran center/forward has looked extremely sharp since joining New York on Feb. 23. The 35-year-old Cincinnati product reportedly had a lot of teams interested in his services, including the Celtics, but his price tag may have been a bit too high until the Knicks lured him in on a 10-day contract. The Knicks have since signed Martin through the end of the season.

On the Celtics’ side, Lee is out on the parquet about 2 1/2 hours before gametime taking shots, so it appears he will play after missing one game with a sprained ankle.

The projected starters are below, although the Celtics’ lineup is very tentative.

Knicks
Kenyon Martin
Carmelo Anthony
Iman Shumpert
Pablo Prigioni
Raymond Felton

Celtics
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Courtney Lee
Avery Bradley

8 a.m. ET: If anybody can commiserate with the Celtics about their injury woes, it is the Knicks.

The Knicks’ preseason plan to build with aging veterans has led to the predictable result, with injuries threatening to derail an otherwise strong season on 8th Avenue. They are missing four of their top front-line players, including former Celtics big man Rasheed Wallace, who is probably done for the year. Tyson Chandler, Amare Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas also are battling knee or foot injuries. So do not expect any sympathy when the Celtics note the absence of Kevin Garnett with inflammation in his left ankle.

The Celtics (36-33) have a long road ahead of them if they hope to catch the Knicks (42-26) in the Atlantic Division standings. That goal is a bit of pipe dream now, anyway, considering the way Celtics coach Doc Rivers is going to need to rest his thin troops to keep them healthy as the playoffs approach.

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden during the game, which tips off at 7 p.m.

Final, Grizzlies 110-106:

Jeryd Bayless scored 30 points to come within half a basket of his career high as seven of the eight Memphis players who played reached double figures. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 26 points, but it was Crawford’s 21 points — 14 of which came in the fourth quarter — that turned a blowout into a nailbiter.

Williams had seven of his nine points in the fourth quarter as the Celtics held the Grizzlies to just 34 percent shooting in the final frame. The effort went wasted, though, thanks to the big hole the Celtics dug themselves into before the bench guys nearly bailed them out. The Celtics’ losing streak grew to four straight games.

Fourth quarter, :12.1, Grizzlies 108-104: Green and Z-Bo exchanged a pair of free throws, and we are back at a four-point game. Yay, free throws!

Fourth quarter, :18.5, Grizzlies 106-102: Bayless was the man who caught the inbound pass and was fouled, drilling both. That put him at 30 points for the game, one point short of his career high. Deep down, he has to be hoping the Celtics hit a shot, foul him and send him to the line for two more shots at a new career high, right?

Fourth quarter, :18.9, Grizzlies 104-102: In the famous words of Samuel L. Jackson in Jurassic Park: “Hold onto your butts.”

Crawford, who is now the second Celtic with more than 20 points, drew a shooting foul and hit both freebies to make this a two-point contest. Finally making a sub, Rivers tossed Bradley and Pierce into the game to help try to get a turnover.

Fourth quarter, :23.3, Grizzlies 104-100: Who are these guys? Bass and Green are the only regulars on the floor with Williams, Crawford and D.J. White, but that unit is giving Griz fans reason to be nervous.

Rivers appears to be ready to go the rest of the way with this group. Arthur hit a swooping hook shot to put Memphis up by a half-dozen, but White answered with a jumper from the left baseline to cut it back to four points.

Fourth quarter, 1:14, Grizzlies 102-98: With Williams and Crawford — yeah, those guys — at the helm, the Celtics are shockingly back in this game. Crawford is up to 19 points, including the three just now to pull Boston within four, and Williams has hit a nice array of pull-up jumpers and a three of his own to help the cause. Williams is 4-for-4 from the field with five boards, three assists and just one turnover. That is pretty close to a perfect game.

Fourth quarter, 6:23, Grizzlies 98-82: Oh, yeah. This is what a four-game losing streak feels like.

The Celtics have been able to fend off the long skid recently. Sunday would have marked the two-month anniversary of their first extended slump, when they lost six straight from Jan. 16 to Jan. 25. But now they are back in the “L” column, four-fold.

Pierce intentionally committed a foul at the 7:46 mark to allow himself to be substituted out. He will get some rest, but he will also have to watch the rest of this one from the front row.

Fourth quarter, 9:18, Grizzlies 90-75: All right, now the Grizzlies are just toying with the Celtics. Briefly — oh, so briefly — the Celtics worked the deficit down into single digits, but Memphis turned around and put a stop to that quickly.

Crawford helped out with that. When he got the ball ahead of the defense in the open court, for some reason he slowed up a lot. That gave Prince the opening to chase him down from behind and blocked the ball off the backboard. Crawford argued the ball had hit the glass first, which it had not, and his protests went over the line for a technical foul.

End of third quarter, Grizzlies 85-73: At this point, Rivers might as well roll with Williams and Crawford the rest of the way and see what happens. There is very little to be gained for the Celtics playing their regulars now, since it would take a lot of them to get back into this game playing their normal style. This may only be a 12-point game, but the way the Grizzlies are playing, that might as well be 30.

But Williams and Crawford bring an element of uncertainty, not just to the Griz but to the Celtics as well. If the Celtics end up needing an extra guard body in the playoffs, Rivers could benefit from seeing what those two can do against one of the top defensive squads in the league — and Conley, one of the best defensive point guards in the business.

Third quarter, 5:28, Grizzlies 75-62: Attention to detail traditionally is the Celtics’ calling card, but it has been conspicuously lacking lately. Slightly off-the-mark passes, pulling up just a bit on the run up the court, turning down marginally contested shots — these are the signs of a team that is not all there.

Pierce has scored nine points already since halftime, but the Celtics’ deficit has grown. The Grizzlies are just playing with more passion and focus, which is normally the case for this tough group. The fact that they are doing it against the Celtics is more surprising.

Halftime, Grizzlies 61-51: Rivers has not been this heated at officials in a while. He gave the entire crew of Bill Spooner, Marat Kogut and Zach Zarba an earful, especially after a clean block by Wilcox was called as a shooting foul for Davis.

Still, Rivers has worse things to worry about — namely, how to slow down Bayless. He cannot simply put Bradley on him, since Conley is capable of dicing up Crawford, Williams or Terry as well. Bayless has 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting (with all 12 shots being quality looks). The Griz are shooting 56 percent from the field and protecting the ball, as usual, to make life very tough on the Celtics defensively.

Pierce is stuck on just 13 points after Boston went cold as a group in the second quarter. Pierce missed both shots he took in the frame as the Celtics shot just 8-for-21.

Second quarter, 5:52, Grizzlies 47-40: Bradley got Davis earlier in the game, but Arthur got one back for Memphis. Bradley was late recovering on the break and he almost got shoved through the basket by Arthur, who drew an extra free throw out of the deal for good measure.

Second quarter, 6:36, Grizzlies 43-38: In one of the least understandable moves ever, Bayless risked getting thrown out of game in which he was ballin’. After draining a three over a helpless Terrence Williams to give him 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting, Bayless fouled Crawford hard on a crazy play.

After the contact, Crawford tossed Bayless the ball in a playground move, to which Bayless understandably took offense. But Bayless’ shove to Crawford afterward was curious. The refs gave Bayless a personal foul and a technical foul, and he is fortunate they did not give him more.

Second quarter, 9:02, Grizzlies 38-36: It’s Bayless time. The Arizona product, one of the best backup point guards in the NBA, is slicing up Crawford. He eluded Crawford, who got lost among the bigs in the paint, and drilled a wide-open 3-pointer from the top of the key to push Memphis into the lead.

End of first quarter, Celtics 31-29: It would be nice to give you some insight into what in the world Pierce was doing when he collared Jeryd Bayless near halfcourt on a fastbreak, but we’ve got nothing. Pierce was fortunate to only pick up a clear-path foul, since the language on the flagrant foul rule is pretty clear on above-the-neck contact.

Bayless went to the line and hit both free throws, they drained a step-back over Crawford on the ensuing possession. We are not saying Crawford is suspect defensively, but Bayless scored eight straight points after Crawford entered the game. So there is that.

Pierce is feeling good, too. He played the entire first 12 minutes, shooting 6-for-8 from the field for a game-high 13 points. Somehow, he also found time to pick up three assists in the meantime.

First quarter, 4:47, Celtics 18-14: The Grizzlies have worked their way back, as we expected they would, but the score is almost secondary to the highlight-reel dunk Bradley just provided. Pierce got caught up in the air and Bradley cut to the basket to give Pierce a safety valve. Bradley did more than just that, though. He kept going for a one-handed dunk over Davis, then nonchalantly jogged back up the court like it was a normal layup.

First quarter, 9:20, Celtics 10-2: If you can figure these guys out, please, share with the class.

Missing two starters, the Celtics have burst into the lead with a 10-0 run following a hustle layup by Tony Allen. Sure, Gasol and Randolph are off the floor, but Garnett and Lee are absent, too — and Pierce has only two of the Celtics’ 10 points to begin the game.

Hollins took a timeout, most likely as much to re-check his scouting report as to talk things over with his team.

8:02 p.m.: These starting fives are going to be pretty unfamiliar. Not only is Gasol out, but Randolph will also start the game on the bench after arriving to the arena late. Z-Bo will play, though, and probably a lot.

Darrell Arthur will take Randolph’s spot in the starting lineup. Terry will apparently start in the Celtics’ backcourt.

7:26 p.m.: Courtney Lee will not suit up for the game, which is no surprise. Lee twisted his ankle late in Friday’s game and did not return, so his absence was expected.

Lee will not be the only Celtic sidelined with ankle problems, though. Kevin Garnett, who never gave any indication of being hurt in Dallas, also has a mild sprained ankle and will miss the game. That could make things interesting for the Celtics down low, where they were always going to be severely undersized against the Griz. Jeff Green will start, but Celtics coach Doc Rivers was noncommittal as to whether Jordan Crawford or Jason Terry would start in the backcourt.

Memphis coach Lionel Hollins did Rivers a solid and will hold center Marc Gasol out of the proceedings as well. Still, Zach Randolph could have a field day against Chris Wilcox, Brandon Bass and Shavlik Randolph (no relation). Gasol reportedly re-aggravated an abdominal injury.

The projected starters, what is left of them, appear below.

Celtics
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Jordan Crawford/Jason Terry
Avery Bradley

Grizzlies
Ed Davis
Zach Randolph
Tayshaun Prince
Tony Allen
Mike Conley

8 a.m. ET: Jason Terry is not the sympathetic type. When he saw teammate Courtney Lee writhing in pain on the floor late in Friday’s loss in Dallas, Terry’s thought was a bit harsh.

“Get your [butt] up,” Terry thought to himself, as he told reporters.

Lee did not get up, at least not under his own power, and his status for Saturday’s game in Memphis is unclear. If Lee cannot play for the Celtics (36-32), Terry may move into the starting lineup and Terrence Williams and Jordan Crawford will be called upon to fill in off the bench. They have a tall task ahead of them, as the Grizzlies (46-22) are quietly one of the best teams in the NBA.

With a hounding defense and a post-heavy offense, the Griz have built the fifth-best record in the Western Conference. They are just a game behind Denver for the No. 3 spot and just a half-game behind the Clippers at No. 4, although that is irrelevant because the Pacific Division-leading Clips would be assured of a top-four seed even if they had an inferior record.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

Final, Mavericks 104-94:

Courtney Lee, who gave the Celtics a scare when he went down clutching his left knee late in the fourth quarter, left more or less under his own power with what appeared to be a left ankle sprain on replays. As poorly as the Celtics played for most of Friday’s game, Celtics coach Doc Rivers would still like to keep them all intact in this injury-riddled year.

Brandan Wright came within two points of matching his career high by scoring 23 points. Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points as one of five Dallas players in double figures.

The Celtics had three players with 16 points each and were extremely aggressive attacking the hoop as a team. They took 27 foul shots, missing just two, and improved dramatically on offense in the second half to make the game interesting. But O.J. Mayo hit the dagger while Lee writhed in pain, and the Celtics have consecutive loss No. 3 on their resume with a difficult back-to-back coming up Saturday in Memphis.

Fourth quarter, 1:21, Mavericks 100-92: Courtney Lee is down, clutching just below his knee. Mayo hitting a three that could be the back-breaker is almost secondary now.

Fourth quarter, 1:51, Mavericks 97-92: Maybe the Celtics still have a prayer after all.

After Pierce hit a pair of free throws, the Celtics pushed the ball and Green flipped home a lefty layup to bring them within five. Stay tuned here.

Fourth quarter, 2:44, Mavericks 94-86: It would take a ridiculous reversal of fortune, but Pierce is trying hard to keep the Celtics in this game. Again. But he will probably fall short. Again.

As he did late in Wednesday’s loss in New Orleans, Pierce has gotten aggressive at the offensive end. He drove for a physical layup and hit a three on a kick-out from Garnett to pull Boston within eight.

Fourth quarter, 5:01, Mavericks 93-81: There it is. Wright has his 20 points. He got it on a putback dunk of a Carter miss to restore Dallas’ double-digit lead. This marks the second time in Wright’s career he has at least 20 points, and his first since 2009, when he had 25 points for the Warriors against the Sixers.

Fourth quarter, 7:44, Mavericks 87-77: Nowitzki and Garnett have been having an elbow match for most of the game, and it is having an impact on how the Celtics defend. Garnett appears to have gotten tentative about muscling up to Nowitzki, who is selling every bit of contact he absorbs.

It was clear to see when Garnett, who usually hedges hard around ball screens, sat back passively, afraid to get too physical with Nowitzki or Collison. The effect was a clear lane for Collison for a floater.

Fourth quarter, 10:17, Mavericks 81-75: Of course, just when the Celtics look lost, Jordan Crawford gives them a boost.

Rivers tolerates Crawford because, he says, the Xavier product is the Celtics’ “wild card.” After missing his first four shots of the game, Crawford hit a difficult, contested corner three and then spun home a harder-than-it-had-to-be layup on the break.

End of third quarter, 3:14, Mavericks 79-68: With one flashback dunk, Carter provided the highlight that made a mockery of Boston’s defense. Bradley, Green and Wilcox all sort of ran into each other — literally, in Green and Bradley’s case — allowing Carter to get free for a cock-back one-handed dunk.

Wilcox, the only player other than Bass to show some signs of life for the Celtics, drew a shooting foul and threw down a slam of his own to pull Boston within single digits at the end of three. But the Celtics will need much more than offensive aggression to avoid their third straight loss. They need to figure out how to keep Dallas from getting layups and dunks at will out of their screen-and-roll, and fast.

Third quarter, 5:54, Mavericks 68-59: There has been Tiago Splitter, Tyler Hansbrough and now Brandan Wright. The Celtics just keep making sub-star big men look a lot better than they are.

Wright, like Splitter and unlike Hansbrough, is actually a pretty good player. He has his flaws, which is why he has yet to make a major splash in the NBA at 25 years old, but he is a serviceable energy big man. But midway through the third quarter, he is already more than double his season average of 7.7 points per game with 16 points. He is the main beneficiary of Boston’s dreadful pick and roll defense, which seems to be in a competition to see how many dunks they can give the UNC alum.

Halftime, Mavericks 55-44: The final image of that first half should be Celtics coach Doc Rivers pulling Bradley aside, explaining something or other to the third-year guard. One thing is certain: Rivers was schooling the youngster on defense.

Bradley’s pressure defense gets lots of lip service, but the most important quality a defensive player can have in the NBA is staying in front of his man. Bradley was just one of several perpetrators of not getting that done in the first half. The Mavs owned the Celtics on pick and rolls, even though Garnett is one of the top pick-and-roll defending big men in the game.

The Mavs scored 26 points in the paint and put up 13 more shots in the first half than the Celtics did. That sort of volume helped overcome the Celtics’ aggressiveness on their own offensive end, where they got to the line for 17 free throws and hit all 17.

Bass, by are Boston’s most animated player, leads the team with 10 points. Nowitzki has 14 points to lead three Dallas players in double figures.

Second quarter, 2:39, 45-39: Garnett is the only Celtics player on the floor actually playing defense. Yes, that includes Bradley.

The Celtics are just sort of running around, kind of putting bodies on guys and mostly not as the Mavs decimate them with ball screens. Wright and Marion, neither of whom is an elite finisher, have baskets at the rim as the Celtics are struggling to contain Dallas’ pick and roll.

When you struggle to contain pick and rolls involving Wright, Marion, Kaman, James and Darren Collison, you’re doing it wrong.

Second quarter, 6:17, Mavericks 39-33: For a lot of people, Vince Carter is a slam-dunking specialist who never really panned out. That is not entirely true. Although Carter never really lived up to the massive hype that accompanied his breakout start in Toronto, he has developed into a solid all-around veteran.

His shot selection sometimes leaves something to be desired, but Carter’s ability to recognize mismatches and understand positioning on the court are advanced. He demanded the ball in the post when he drew Terry on a switch, as he should, and backed down the much smaller defender for an and-one layup.

Second quarter, 8:03, Mavericks 35-27: If the Celtics need a spark, maybe they can try telling Jeff Green the results of the Georgetown-Florida Gulf Coast game.

As you may have heard, the Eagles knocked off Green’s Hoyas just a few minutes ago. The Hoyas’ run of ineffectiveness against double-digit seeds in the tourney continues, something Green did not really need to worry about during his time there.

Green, who has six points in seven minutes off the bench, might get a motivational boost if he finds out his team was upset — again.

End of first quarter, Mavericks 30-21: The real referees must be working the round of 64 in Dayton or Kansas City right now, because there have already been a handful of calls that sure do not seem NBA-caliber.

The comedy of errors started to get ridiculous when the buzzer sounded for the end of the first quarter, however. Apparently there was some disagreement over whether the quarter was actually over, so after a lengthy video review, they threw a couple more seconds up on the clock and let Dallas inbound to run out the clock.

Yippee!

First quarter, 2:59, Mavericks 24-19: Jason Terry spent eight years in Big D, which he still calls home. He helped get Dirk a ring in 2011, and his “JET” move was popularized there. Still, it was uncertain how he would be greeted by his old fans.

Terry did sign elsewhere last offseason, after all. It was not with a conference rival like Ray Allen, but fans often do not respond well when a player departs willingly. The Mavs fans apparently know better, though. Following the lead of their bombastic owner, Dallas fans gave Terry a strong ovation when he entered the game with four minutes left in the first quarter.

That love only lasts so long, though. The crowd was upset when Terry drove to the hole and drew a questionable foul on Brendan Wright.

First quarter, 7:47, Mavericks 11-4: The battle between Garnett and Nowitzki is fun to watch, and not just because both are champion big men who are old as dirt.

Garnett and Nowitzki have gradually become more like each other, and it is no coincidence they both now have championship rings. Nowitzki, once a spot-up shooter, has become a devastating post-up player. Garnett, once a superbly athletic man-child, now has a midrange jumper at least as consistent as Nowitzki’s.

7:36 p.m.: If you have not watched the Mavericks play much this season and are just going off a quick perusal of the statistics, it is hard to tell why they have struggled so much. There is no obvious area where the team is so bad that it should explain why they find themselves 3 1/2 games out of the playoffs as they get set to host the Celtics.

Although it is tough to pin any team’s failure on one thing, the roster construction simply had not panned out the way Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson envisioned. When the Mavs missed out on Deron Williams in free agency and Dwight Howard in the trade market, they decided to go with a number of short-term quick fixes. That meant Elton Brand and Chris Kaman on one-year deals, O.J. Mayo on a two-year deal and several similar short-length contracts.

The Mavs clearly figured they would give Rick Carlisle, one of the best coaches in the business, a year to see what he could do with castoffs. The results have been underwhelming, but not discouraging.

The Mavs will have some cap space this summer. Nowitzki, Mayo, Shawn Marion and Vince Carter are the only players of significance who have guaranteed contracts or are likely to be back next year. Expect the Mavs to get aggressive in the market again, since this recipe clearly has not worked.

The projected starters appear below.

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Paul Pierce
Courtney Lee
Avery Bradley

Mavericks
Chris Kaman
Dirk Nowitzki
Shawn Marion
O.J. Mayo
Mike James

8 a.m. ET: Jason Terry had a rough game Wednesday in New Orleans. Maybe he was just saving his bullets for Dallas.

The former Maverick returns to his old stomping grounds Friday as the Celtics (36-31) make their one and only trip to Big D. Terry helped the Mavs win the NBA championship in 2011, when they outlasted LeBron James’ Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, but the former sixth man of the year has had his struggles this year. He went scoreless in 20 minutes against the Hornets in his last game, shooting 0-for-5 from the field and committing three fouls.

Up next is the Mavs (32-36), who are trying to make a late, highly improbable run to a playoff spot. The Mavs have won seven of their last 11 games and have closed within three games in the loss column of the eighth-seeded Lakers. As Dirk Nowitzki gets his stride back, though, Dallas has struggled to find consistency. They let a golden opportunity at a win escape Wednesday when they bowed out by 17 points to the Nets at home.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET.