NEW YORK -- The 2013 NBA playoffs opened with a bang Saturday afternoon at the Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks stormed to a 1-0 lead in their best-of-7 opening round series against bitter rivals the Boston Celtics.
Carmelo Anthony pumped a game-high 36 points while top reserve J.R. Smith added 15. But it was the stingy Knicks defense, which held Boston to eight fourth quarter points, that paved the way for the 85-78 decision.
"Everybody that was on him played great defense on him. He's just a great player. We have to continue to make things hard for him," Celtics guard Avery Bradley told NBA.com when asked about Anthony, who made 13 of 29 field goals including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. The Knicks ace also had six rebounds and four steals.
The Knicks made only 32 of 79 shots, but they got 13 points and six assists from point guard Raymond Felton and Kenyon Martin tallied a huge 10 points and nine rebounds while playing a back-up to center Tyson Chandler, who was scoreless with five rebounds in 20 minutes of action.
Jeff Green led the Celtics with 26 points and seven rebounds while Paul Pierce chipped in 21 and seven assists, but Kevin Garnett was limited to eight points on 4-of-12 shooting. Boston was held to 27-of-65 from the field, including 5-for-20 above the 3-point arc.
This series between the No.2 seeded New York and the No.7 ranked Boston resumes on Tuesday night at the Madison Square Garden. (SB)
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