There will be nights, of course, when Carmelo Anthony will not be able to shake off a mortal’s shooting night and close the show and protect his howling house, and on those nights, you better have a backup plan, and the best backup plan is to play De-fense the way it is meant to be played, in such a way that electrifies the Garden and turns it a raucous, eardrum-puncturing House of Pain for the other guys.
It is understood around here that Melo (36 points), more than any of the Knicks, has the knack for recognizing winning time, it is why owner James Dolan moved heaven and earth to get him, because stars win championships.
De-fense wins championships, too.
The Celtics scored eight points in the fourth quarter — a Knicks franchise playoff record for fewest points allowed in the fourth quarter. The Celtics scored 25 points in the second half — tying the Knicks franchise playoff record.
Those are sentences you would have been highly unlikely to read in the Mike D’Antoni Era, no offense to him.
“I think we all believe or understand that championships are won by playing defense,” Jason Kidd said after Knicks 85, Celtics 78 in Game 1. “We probably played our best defense of the year in that second half.”
If anything is a referendum on coach Mike Woodson, and the commitment these Knicks have made to him and his demand for De-fense, it is that second half and that fourth quarter.
It was about head and it was about heart, because De-fense is always about heart.
Mostly it was Kidd’s 40-year-old head and everyone’s heart, especially Kenyon Martin, a sneering, defiant menace under the basket for 28:26.
“We manned up,” Martin said.
It was about Kidd diving on the floor for a steal when it mattered most, one of eight Celtics turnovers in their fourth quarter from hell. If you’re not inspired by the sight of a 40-year-old gamer leaving it all on the floor on a play with 4:48 left that led to a Raymond Felton free throw, on a night he would play 35 minutes, then you aren’t human.
“Understanding what’s at stake, and understanding who’s behind me, and just got lucky,” Kidd said. “Being at the right place at the right time.”
He has spent a Hall of Fame career being at the right place at the right time.
“That wins championships, plays like that,” Tyson Chandler said.
So do plays like stripping Jeff Green of the ball under the basket with 2:21 left.
“He just seems to be in the right place at the right time,” Woodson said.
Green was a one-man wrecking crew in the first half. He scored just six of his 26 points in the second half.
“I think we did a great job of keeping him out of the paint,” J.R. Smith said.
Melo, it turns out, can play some defense too.
“Melo covered him most of the second half, and I thought he did an excellent job on him,” Woodson said.
Kevin Garnett (eight points, 4-of-12 shooting) apparently left his Honey Nut Cheerios at home. Paul Pierce was 1-for-7 from downtown Boston. When the Celtics weren’t showing the same reckless disregard for the ball as does Mark Sanchez, booed loudly when he appeared on the scoreboard, they were 3-of-11 shooting in that fourth quarter. Boy, does coach Doc Rivers miss Rajon Rondo.
“We just panicked a little bit, and we don’t have to do that,” Avery Bradley said.
Woodson made all of the right adjustments at the half.
“We weren’t guarding the paint,” Kidd said.
Melo had 19 at the half, and the Knicks trailed 53-49 anyway.
“It was the defense that held us in there,” Woodson said, “and that’s how it’s got to be when you’re struggling to make shots. You got to damn sure make sure that they’re not making ’em. I thought tonight, in the second half, we were solid as we’ve been all year from a defensive standpoint.”
When the Knicks play De-fense like this, like Clyde Frazier in his prime, like Dave DeBusschere, like Willis Reed, the Garden feeds off them, and they feed off the Garden.
“We really got into those guys,” Felton said. “We played great help defense. Everyone was rotating in the right places.”
This was the essence of playoff basketball, long missing at the Garden.
“It was a matter of us willing our way on the defensive end,” Melo said.
Where Melo and De-fense are willing, there’s a way.