Final: Celtics 118, Knicks 116. The winning streak survives in dramatic fashion. Amare Stoudemire drills a 3 at the buzzer, appearing to give the Knicks a one-point win, but after review, the refs wave the shot off and the Celtics emerge with an incredible two-point win. You don't see many endings closer than that.
Amare finishes with 39 points, but it's just barely not enough. The Celtics' winning streak has reached 11 after a brush with death, and the Knicks snap their run at eight.
Just an incredible game, and an incredible ending to boot.
Pierce finishes with 32 points and 10 rebounds, propelling the Celtics to victory.
The C's are headed home, where they'll put their 11-game winning streak on the line against the Hawks on Thursday night.
Fourth quarter, 0.4 seconds, Celtics 118-116: Paul Pierce just drove a dagger through the Knicks' hearts.
Pierce comes off a KG screen around Ray Felton, dribbles into Amare Stoudemire, and then fades away for what appears to be a game-winning shot.
The Celtics appear to have this game won. The Knicks now need a miracle.
Fourth quarter, 12.2 seconds, 116-116: After all the shots Amare Stoudemire has hit in this game, he just missed the most important one. With 15 seconds left and a chance to take the lead, he just bricked on a short jumper. Big Baby gets a big rebound.
Now the Celtics will have one shot to win this thing in regulation. Unbelievable.
Fourth quarter, 50.4 seconds, 116-116: Danilo Gallinari's already made about a million big plays in this game. That's another one — three-point play to tie it up again.
Fourth quarter, 1:02, Celtics 116-113: Wow. Ray Allen hits the biggest shot of the night, a 3 to give the Celtics their first lead of the half. The C's have swung the momentum of this game with a 7-0 run in crunch time, and now it's the Knicks' turn to stage a comeback.
What a shot. What a run. What a game.
Fourth quarter, 1:29, 113-113: Again KG tries to score on KG and misses, and again he gets his own rebound and puts it back up. He gets to the line for two and hits them both — we're all tied up.
Garnett now has 20 and 13, a huge performance for him.
The Celtics are perfect from the free-throw line, 21-for-21.
Fourth quarter, 1:58, Knicks 113-111: KG comes through with a big dunk to cut the lead in half again. Persistence is key — he tries to post up Amare and misses, but he gets his own rebound and throws it back down.
The C's still need a stop.
Fourth quarter, 2:17, Knicks 113-109: Raymond Felton has gone relatively overlooked amid the Amaremania, but he's got 26 points and 14 assists, a monster night in his own right.
The Knicks have a solid two-man game going. It might be enough to hold off the Celtics.
Fourth quarter, 3:07, Knicks 109-107: Amare doesn't have a copyright on 30-point games. Paul Pierce just recorded one of his own.
But the C's still don't have a chance unless they start getting stops. The Knicks lead has just been bouncing back and forth — four to two, two to four. The C's need to stop Amare and Felton, or they're dead meat.
Fourth quarter, 4:16, Knicks 107-105: Defense no longer exists. Stops are a foreign concept to both teams. This game is an absolute shootout.
The Celtics haven't gotten a defensive rebound in three full minutes. Hard to win when you can't close out a possession.
Fourth quarter, 5:42, Knicks 102-99: Nate Robinson used to be the Knicks' rep in the dunk contest every February. Maybe this year, they'll send Danilo Gallinari instead.
Gallo just keeps generating offense. The Knicks refuse to surrender this lead.
Fourth quarter, 6:37, Knicks 98-97: Ray Allen drills the 3. The lead is back to one.
Ray has risen from the dead and now has 23 points. He's carrying the C's back into this game.
Fourth quarter, 7:22, Knicks 98-94: Rajon Rondo is back in the game, but the Knicks don't seem to notice or care. Amare Stoudemire and Wilson Chandler are still doin' work.
The Knicks get four quick ones to push their lead again. How will the Celtics respond?
Fourth quarter, 8:34, Knicks 94-93: Good news for the Celtics: Rajon Rondo is out of the locker room and ready to roll. Bad news: Glen Davis is down.
Davis fell to the floor awkwardly finishing a (missed) dunk, and it's taking him a long time to get back up.
The C's have had to overcome all kinds of adversity tonight. What's one more injury?
Fourth quarter, 9:46, Knicks 92-90: Nate Robinson misses the 3 for the lead, but he redeems himself on the other end, taking a big charge. Celtics ball with a chance to tie it.
Fourth quarter, 10:48, Knicks 92-88: Nate Robinson has taken over countless games at MSG in his career. This could be another — Nate gives the Celtics a 3 and two quick free throws to cut the New York lead to four. The C's are alive and well again.
We've got a Von Wafer sighting in the fourth quarter. Doc is resting Ray for crunch time. Good move.
Fourth quarter, 11:37, Knicks 90-83: Rajon Rondo is limping. Either it's his hamstring acting up again, or he just tweaked his ankle. Either way, it's serious trouble for the Celtics.
Rondo is leaving the floor, headed to the locker room. We may see a lot of Nate Robinson in this fourth quarter.
Either that, or we'll see a Willis Reed moment. This is MSG, where the original Willis Reed took the floor four decades ago.
End of third quarter, Knicks 90-83: The Knicks still have a healthy lead, and Amare Stoudemire has himself a ninth consecutive 30-point game.
No player in NBA history has ever had nine straight 30-point wins. Amare's got a shot at being the first tonight.
The Celtics have just 12 minutes left to stop him.
Third quarter, 2:50, Knicks 79-73: The Celtics are now riding a 6-0 run, getting a nice second-chance bucket from Nate Robinson off a Kevin Garnett hustle play to grab a loose ball.
The C's are down but not yet. Their energy is still there — they're getting it both from KG and from youngsters like Nate and Big Baby.
If the Knicks' hot shooting falls off, the Celtics are in position for a comeback.
Third quarter, 5:30, Knicks 75-67: If the Celtics can't make Danilo Gallinari work harder for his points, then consider them dead in the water.
Gallo's now got nine in the quarter. Someone — perhaps Paul Pierce — has got to step up and start contesting shots.
The Knicks have a lot of weapons. Containing them all is hard work. But in a battle of two teams with epic winning streaks, it's not supposed to be easy.
Third quarter, 7:10, Knicks 70-65: Another big jumper from Danilo Gallinari, a wing 3 to put the Knicks up by five midway through the third quarter.
Gallo was scoreless at halftime — now he's dominating with seven points in five minutes.
Third quarter, 8:58, Knicks 62-61: Paul Pierce ties the game with a 3, then the Knicks retake the lead with a quick 4-0 run, then Ray Allen drills another 3.
Both teams are fighting tough as nails. Neither is backing down. This game looks destined to go down to to the wire.
Third quarter, 10:30, Knicks 58-55: Solid start for the Celtics in the second half — first Ray Allen throws down a monster dunk, then Paul Pierce knocks down a difficult jumper over Danilo Gallinari.
The Celtics are still very much alive. Pierce looks poised to match Amare point for point now.
Halftime, Knicks 58-51: Raymond Felton closes the first half with a ridiculous bank shot for 3, beating the buzzer by eight tenths of a second. All the Celtics' hard work is for naught — the Knicks are back up by seven at the break.
Amare Stoudemire has been an absolute beast all night, with 23 points and six rebounds now at halftime. The Celtics have to do something about that.
Paul Pierce leads the C's with 13 points. The rest of the team needs to chip in a little. One guy can't outduel Amare on his own.
Second quarter, 2:52, 43-43: The Celtics have clawed all the way back. Kevin Garnett fuels an 8-0 run to close the gap, and he's now got six points and six boards for a solid first-half stat line.
KG is justifiably annoyed about being whistled for a delay of game technical. Apparently he threw the ball in the wrong direction after finishing at the rim with a layup? Doesn't seem tech-worthy.
The Knicks will have a free throw in a moment and a chance to reclaim the lead.
Second quarter, 5:31, Knicks 43-35: The Celtics are now without a field goal in their last 3:20. Their lone point over that stretch was a Ray Allen freebie off of a technical foul.
Rajon Rondo had 24 assists for the Celtics last time they took on these Knicks. He hasn't given them that same spark this time.
Not yet, anyway.
Second quarter, 6:58, Knicks 41-35: Glen Davis has built a reputation this year for taking charges, but he doles one out this time.
The Big Baby foul, following a Toney Douglas 3, pretty much kills the Celtics' momentum here in this second quarter. The deficit is back to six, and the C's still have plenty of work to do.
Second quarter, 8:50, Knicks 36-34: Ray gets a steal, takes it coast to coast, and dashes through two defenders for a driving layup. Classy play.
The Celtics have rallied for a 10-2 run to close the gap early in this second quarter. Mike D'Antoni needs a timeout.
Second quarter, 10:11, Knicks 34-28: Ray Allen just scored for the first time after a first-quarter goose egg.
That's a good sign for the C's. They need to mix up their offense and get more guys involved. If Ray could get hot in the second quarter, that would be huge.
End of first quarter, Knicks 32-24: The Celtics were hoping to erase that early deficit in a New York minute, but it hasn't happened yet. They're down eight at the break.
Amare Stoudemire is showing them up early with 17 points and five rebounds, while Wilson Chandler adds 10. The C's are literally being outscored by two guys.
Paul Pierce has seven points, three rebounds and an assist. He's holding his own, but the Celtics' offense as a whole looks stagnant and uninspired.
Doc Rivers has some coaching to do.
First quarter, 2:57, Knicks 28-18: Amare Stoudemire has 15 already without breaking a sweat. He's supposed to be the league's best fourth-quarter scorer, but this has been one heck of a first.
The Celtics need to find a way to slow him down. Semih Erden wasn't cutting it, and now neither is Big Baby Davis.
Is it only a matter of time before Doc tells Kevin Garnett to take matters into his own hands?
First quarter, 5:30, Knicks 19-15: The Celtics are shooting well as a team so far, 7-for-14. Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Semih Erden have each hit a pair of shots.
The ball movement could still use some work, though. The Celtics have to get more creative offensively than just isolating Pierce and taking jumpers. It's too early in this game to start getting lazy.
First quarter, 6:29, Knicks 19-13: One guy who's benefited from Amare Stoudemire's recent hot streak is Wilson Chandler. Chandler's getting lots of open shots as a result of defenses collapsing on the Knicks' other big man, and he's hit a couple of them already in this one.
It's up to Kevin Garnett and the Celtics to rotate, get to guys quickly, and be on their toes to contest jumpers. They can't let a single Knick beat them.
First quarter, 8:19, Knicks 15-9: Amare Stoudemire has nine points early, shooting a spotless 4-for-4.
Doc Rivers was obviously hoping Semih Erden could handle Amare one-on-one. That doesn't seem to be working.
What's Plan B? Apparently it's Glen Davis, who's about to check in.
First quarter, 10:31, Celtics 7-5: Rajon Rondo gets a couple of flashy assists early. First he finds Semih Erden inside for a good look — Semih pauses, waits for an opening, and throws down a dunk. Next possession, Rondo kicks it out to Paul Pierce for an open 25-footer.
No one's played much of any defense yet, on either side. We could have a good old-fashioned shootout on our hands.
First quarter, 11:51, Celtics 2-0: Nice start for the Celtics — Paul Pierce steals the opening tip away from Danilo Gallinari, bolts to the basket and drops in a left-handed layup.
The C's have their first lead.
6 p.m.: The Celtics managed to maintain their winning streak O'Neal-less-ly last week. They'll have to try it again now.
Shaquille O'Neal will be out of action when the Celtics take on the Knicks on Wednesday night. Expect another start for the Turkish kid, Semih Erden.
Erden will be matched up with Amare Stoudemire, who's been moved to the five recently in Mike D'Antoni's smaller lineup. Not a tall order, literally speaking — Amare's only 6-foot-10 — but a difficult one to be sure.
8 a.m.: Shaquille O'Neal was asked Tuesday to comment on the recent performance of his former Suns teammate, Amare Stoudemire.
"Great player," Shaq responded. "Great pick-and-roll offensive player. But we've got Mr. Garnett, so he's going to have to play some defense."
On Wednesday night, Stoudemire will meet Kevin Garnett, as two of the game's best power forwards clash in a war for Atlantic Division supremacy. The Knicks have won eight straight games; the Celtics have won 10.
It won't be about numbers or individual performances at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. It'll be a battle of great all-around team play — between Amare and KG, one will rally his troops and prevail. Thirty-point games are one thing, but big statement wins are another entirely. We'll see if Amare's ready for this one.
