The Knicks had the runway cleared for a sweep and their first series victory in 12 years, but the Celtics had different plans. With J.R. Smith unavailable (after getting suspended one game for elbowing Jason Terry in the throat), the Knicks bench mustered only seven points, less than half of their 6th Man of the Year's average output. Worse, Carmelo Anthony couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. He finished with 36 points, despite shooting 10-of-34 from the field, and going 0-for-7 from downtown.
Anthony helped eliminate the Celtics 20-point third quarter lead by taking 20 free throws, but two late misses at the charity stripe aided the Celtics in getting the game to an extra period. Raymond Felton continued his excellent play against the Celtics by scoring 27 points, but only dished three assists.
While Carmelo Anthony's landing gear stalled, the "JET" came off the bench and took off in overtime, scoring the Celtics last nine points. The series returns to New York for Game 5 on Wednesday.
jason terry was clutch , keep calm knicks we still here ! #BostonStrong twitter.com/RealTwanBrown/…
— HoneyBager DC ! (@RealTwanBrown) April 28, 2013
Melo had 12 ISO plays according to Synergy in the first 3 quarters. 11 in the 4th, someone told me.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) April 28, 2013
Honestly JR SMITH should have elbowed Jason terry a little harder#mettalike
— Paul Shehata (@pshehata) April 28, 2013
MT @herringwsj: Doc suggested that Jason Terry's been "angry" ever since the J.R. elbow, and that his team might have been woken up by it.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) April 28, 2013
Carmelo Anthony shot 4-for-14 in the 4th quarter and overtime and scored 12 of his 36 points in that span. #Knicks
— Andrew Luces (@AndrewLuces) April 28, 2013
On a bad shooting day, Melo is Urkel chasing Laura. He'll will get turned down, dissed, but he will never stop chasing. Respect the resolve.
— The Shadow League (@ShadowLeagueTSL) April 28, 2013