BOSTON – See ya Wednesday.
With J.R. Smith suspended and Carmelo Anthony failing to show up either, the Knicks failed to sweep the Celtics.
Everyone but Anthony stepped up in Smith’s absence to take the Celtics to overtime but Melo’s shootng woes were too much to overcome as the Celtics are alive, winning Game 4 97-90 at rowdy TD Garden.
Anthony couldn’t throw the ball into Boston Harbor, without his trusty sidekick to take the burden off him. Melo finished a disastrous 10 of 35 from the field with 7 turnovers. He wound up with 36 points as he sank 16 of 20 free throws as he had to resort to driving the ball at all costs since he couldn’t find his jump shot.
“I was just trying to do whatever I could to win the basketball game,” Anthony said. “I missed a ton of shots today. We as a team didn’t shoot the ball well. I didn’t shoot the ball well. Defensively we were still there. We’re looking forward to Wednesday, I’ll tell you that.”
The Knicks shot an awful 34.4 percent – 23.3 percent on 3-pointers – but banged the boards to haul in 16 offensive rebounds. They outrebounded Boston 54-40.
Ironically, Smith’s elbow victim, Jason Terry, became the Celtics hero, scoring the team’s final nine points in the span of 1:32 to close out the Knicks and set up a Game 5 for the Garden on Wednesday. The Knicks lead the series 3-1.
Wasted was hearty efforts by Raymond Felton (27 points) and a big second half from Iman Shumpert (12 points, 12 rebounds).
Terry, who got clocked in the face by Smith’s elbow Friday in Game 3, banged in a fastbreak transition 3-pointer with 1:40 left to make it 91-88. Terry hit another jumper to put the Celtics ahead 93-90 with 1:03 left.
Inbounding with 28.8 seconds left, down 3, Melo hit back iron on a 3-pointer. Steve Novak, in the game for his 3-point shooting, fouled Terry on the battle for the rebound. Terry sank two free throws to put the Celtics up 95-90 with 20.4 seconds remaining.
Felton gave the Knicks their first lead of the game, banging in a 20-footer with 1:18 left, making it 84-82. KG answered with an 18-footer to tie.
Melo missed a 3-pointer but Chandler tapped it back and the Knicks regained control. But Melo dribbled down the shot-clock and misfired again, making him 9 of 31. Garnett rebounded and the Celtics called timeout with 18 seconds left.
But Pierce miss a final second shot from 18 feet over Chandler and the teams headed to overtime.
With the Knicks desperately missing Smith’s two-way spark, the Celtics marched to a 54-35 halftime lead and led by 20 early in the third quarter. The Knicks shot 28.9 percent in the half and Melo forgot about his teammates, forcing too much.
“I’m not using that as an excuse,” Mike Woodson said. “We had enough tonight.I thought our guys competed and did what they were supposed to do to get back in the game and give us a chance to win at the end.”
Felton turned out to be the guy to step up and scored 16 points in the third quarter and carried 23 into the fourth.
When all looked lost, the Knicks ripped the Celtics in the third quarter, outscoring them 30-14 behind Felton’s magical period. He was 5 of 8, including three 3-pointers.
Felton closed his personal spree by racing upcourt in the final seconds of the third period and firing in a near 30-footer with .2 seconds left, trimming the Celtics lead to 68-65 after three.
The Celtics got in serious foul trouble as Brendan Bass picked up his fifth foul midway through the third quarter while Garnett and Green already had four.
In the fourth, a resurgent Shumpert stole the ball from Pierce and dribbled in for a game-tying layup, 74-74, with 7:10 left.
Pierce awoke in the first half with a brilliant 6-of-9 half for 17 points and athletic wing Jeff Green added 15 in the half. The Celtics led 22-17 after one quarter but it could have been larger.
The Celtics were in command, looking like a more confident team, perhaps knowing the Knicks didn’t have their Sixth Man of the Year winner and clearly desperate not to get swept on the parquet.
Melo couldn’t find any rhythm with his jumper and started driving the ball and drawing fouls. But he got carried away and committed charges.
“They have a lot of pride,” Felton said. “They didn’t want to get swept.”