Thanks to a knee strain, a pulled back muscle and a lack of depth, the Knicks will still be working on their first playoff win in 10 years next season.
Their rollercoaster campaign is over.
Despite an admirable Amar’e Stoudemire electing to play and play grittily, the Celtics supplied the brooms today and ambushed the overmatched Knicks 101-89 at the Garden to close them out, 4-0. The Garden crowd gave them a standing ovation in the final seconds for their second-half comeback that saw them slice a 22-point third-quarter lead to four in the final period.
Next time the Knicks are in the Garden, half the arena will be transformed with a spanking-new lower bowl. But how much of an upgrade the roster will have is debatable. The championship drought now reaches 38 years.
Stoudemire, despite missing his first nine shots, was a lot more active than Friday’s debacle, crashing the boards and barreling to the rim in the second half. He finished with 19 points on five of 20 shooting with 12 rebounds.
“He started the year the same way he ended it, all heart,” coach Mike D’Antoni said of Stoudemire. “He gave it all today.”
Carmelo Anthony scored 32 points on 10 of 24 shooting, not having enough of an impact in the fourth quarter to keep the team’s late rally alive.
The Knicks, still playing without Chauncey Billups (knee strain), made a gallant comeback late in the third quarter behind third-string point guard Anthony Carter, who finished with 11 points on five of seven shooting.
The ragtag group that also included Roger Mason and Shawne Williams cut the defdicit to four points in the fourth quarter.
But they ran out of gas when a left-wing jumper by Kevin Garnett with 2:03 becoming the final dagger, pushing the Celtics up 97-86. KG finished with a team-high 26 points and 10 rebounds.
The Knicks’ comeback also was derailed by a tough officiating call when Shawne Williams was flagged for a controversial charge. Williams thought he had scored on a fastbreak but referee Derrick Collins whistled him for charging into Paul Pierce, who was still moving his feet. It appeared Pierce had initiated the contact anyway with an elbow upstairs. Had Williams been credited with a three-point play, the Knicks would have been down just three.
Instead, Rajon Rondo, whom D’Antoni had taken a poke at before the game, followed with a bucket and the Knicks trailed by eight. Rondo then found Garnett for an open jumper and the Celtics led by 95-85.
The Knicks shot 23.4 percent in the first half — two of 11 on three-pointers and they were on the verge of a second-straight blowout.
Starting the second half, D’Antoni went with Billy Walker and Williams in place of rookie Landry Fields, who missed all three attempts from the field and had just one point, and Ronny Turiaf, symbolizing the Knicks’ vacuum at that position. Fields didn’t play the second half.
The Knicks got it to 82-72 after three quarters. Stoudemire scored inside to make it 82-74 on the opening possession of the fourth quarter . Anthony scored on a jumper and it was 82-76 with 10:12 left. Baby Davis then crashed into Stoudemire for an offensive foul.
The Knicks were down by 22 points midway through the third quarter at 70-48. Trailing 74-54 with 5:54 left in the third, the Knicks, spearheaded by Carter, engineered an 18-8 run to close the third quarter. The run began with two fastbreak driving dunks by Anthony – one off a bomb pass from Carter.
Stoudemire scores took it to 84-78. But with chance to cut it to four, Stoudemire was blocked by Garnett on a perimeter jumper with 8:20 left.
However, Carter, sank a 20-footer to make it 84-80 with 7:33 left. That’s as close as they got.
Stoudemire was a lot more active in the first half, going to the floor for a loose ball, attacking the offensive glass, blocking a driving layup by Pierce. He had four boards in the first quarter but couldn’t buy a bucket. He missed his first nine shots and finished one of 10 in the half. His lone bucket was an offensive rebound putback in the final minute of the half. Stoudemire has six points, seven rebounds.
Melo, who said he’d do anything not to get swept on the home floor, had 15 points in the first quarter. But then he petered out in the second quarter, scoring just four points and missing all four of his field-goal attempts.
There was a heated moment just before midway through the second quarter. Delonte West laid a hard foul on a Fields’ fastbreak layup, after which he tumbled to the court and hit his head on the base of the stanchion. West stood over Fields for a moment, infuriating Stoudemire, who pushed West from behind. Anthony also gave him a shove. Stoudemire picked up the technical foul.
The loss of Billups actually became more severe as the series went on, with Toney Douglas not stepping up. The coaching staff had confidence in Douglas going in, feeling he ran the offense with more of a speedball concept. But he flopped.
Douglas finished the half one of eight and he missed all three attempts from beyond the arch. The half ended appropriately with Williams missing the tap in. Boston was up 55-38.
Stoudemire repeatedly said Saturday he was afraid of injuring his pulled back muscle worse. However, today he said, “The way I’d sit this one out is if I couldn’t walk.’’
Stoudemire could walk. He just couldn’t shoot well enough.