(Programming Note: This will be a quick recap because I'm currently traveling; I'll be back in time for Game 2 with my regular account)

This has been the most amazing weekend of early NBA playoff action that I can remember...ever. The top 2 seeds in the West fell in dramatic first game upsets at home. The third seed was taken to the wire. In the East, the top two seeds won but were also taken to the bitter end. The fourth seed was beaten convincingly by a fifth seed some people thought would be swept.

The Knicks played along with the script and gave the third seed Boston Celtics everything they could handle. Despite a stiflingly slow halfcourt pace that seemed to play to the Celtics' strengths more than the Knicks', New York hung with Boston for the first quarter after early foul trouble on Carmelo Anthony, then tightened the defensive screws several notches in the second quarter. They turned the Celtics over six times and held them to 15 points in the second period, while scoring 28 points. led by the shooting of Stoudemire and Anthony. Ball movement was also superb in the second quarter with eight assists.

The first half was very similar to the game at MSG in March, where the Knicks also built a double-digit halftime lead, but the Knick bench drove that lead over the hapless Celtic reserves during a game when both teams were coming off a back to back. The Knick reserves provided some surprisingly good minutes in Game 1 as well, but the 12 point halftime lead was the result of the Knick starters taking it to the Celtic starters, and demonstrating some extremely strong, physical defense anchored by Turiaf. They held the Celtics to 41 percent shooting, blocked 4 shots and committed only 7 fouls (3 in the second quarter).

The Celtics continued borrowing from the script of the March game by re-focusing themselves after halftime and turning up the defensive intensity. Their offense didn't get that much better (8-22 FGs, 3-6 FTs, and four more turnovers), but in the last part of the third quarter especially, they started generating more points off of futile Knick possessions. Billups (0-4 FGs, including 3 missed three pointers) and especially Anthony (1-8 FGs) went very cold, and occasionally exhibited the kind of shaky shot selection that's characterized their bumpy transition with the Knicks the last month.

Two plays saved the Knicks toward the end of the quarter: 1) a trap forced by Anthony Carter and Jared Jeffries on Ray Allen at the sideline that resulted in a steal and fastbreak tip by Jeffries of an Anthony missed layup in transition and 2) a Shawne Williams corner three pointer to keep the third quarter lead at five at 64-59.

The Knicks went scoreless for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter as the Celtics put together seven straight points to take the lead, at which point D'Antoni went with a quicker hook on his reserves (bringing in Anthony and Billups with 9 minutes left rather than at the 6-7 minute mark). Amare started taking the team on his back with eight straight points to give the Knicks back the lead, the most encouraging sign in a game full of encouraging signs that the Knicks could take some body blows from the Celtics and stay in the game.

Despite the Celtics showing more signs of life on offense (led by Pierce and Allen, who was more comfortable getting looks against the defense of Toney Douglas than he was against Landry Fields), the Knicks got big baskets from Billups and Amare to get the lead up to four points with just under three minutes left. The possession the Knicks would love to have back came after Amare blocked an Allen layup, then drove the lane and passed it off to Douglas but couldn't control his forward momentum and ended up committing a charge -- Douglas had a three taken away that would have made it a seven point lead at 85-78 with 2:15 left.

The final two minutes were filled with the sort of drama that the tabloids will make much hay of this morning -- two Anthony turnovers (the second a controversial offensive foul), two missed Anthony three pointers (the first one basically all the way down before spinning out), a Douglas three pointer that seemed to provide breathing room, and two superb pieces of late game Celtic execution that gave them the final heartbreaking win.

Game notes:

*  Look beyond the marquee names that mud-wrestled throughout this slow-paced, less than totally beautiful game, and you'll see that Turiaf and Jermaine O'Neal provided fantastic and opportunistic plays on both sides of the ball for their teams. Turiaf provided nearly enough for the Knicks to steal this win, especially with his defense on Garnett and his screens and off the ball movement on offense. O'Neal was the one that made it possible for the Celtics to survive - he drew at least two charges (including that crucial one on Amare noted earlier), had 12 points and 4 blocked shots, and had a crucial putback to tie the game at 82 and set up the final finish.

*  It's not unusual for Carmelo to start off hot, tail off slightly, and then make a few big plays toward the end when he is on his game. He started Game 1, though, like he did the last game against the Celtics at MSG, with an over-aggressive foul in the first two minutes, eventually getting into foul trouble early, which set up the evening for the kind of shooting display devoid of any positive rhythm after the second quarter. Despite that, I did not think either of his last two three point attempts were terrible (especially the one that spun in and out), but this was clearly not one of his good nights and he's going to take a good media flogging for it, especially since...

* ...His fellow star Amare was absolutely radiant in the fourth quarter. Knick fans have seen a very diminished, beat up Stoudemire the last month of the season, and every time he drives against a capable defense lately, I half expect the shot to be blocked or come up short if he doesn't get a clear step on his defender. Last night, though, he was in full on superhero mode, with deadly long jumpers, a you-had-to-see-it-twice spin move and a dunk over Garnett and O'Neal. He did have two turnovers in the closing minutes as the Celtics keyed on him harder, but the way he took the team on his back was a great sign of the leadership he craved from the time he came to New York.

*  The offensive foul called on Carmelo with 21 seconds left and the Knicks up 85-84 was a head-scratcher, and I truly do not like complaining about officiating. I've watched Anthony enough with the Nuggets and Knicks to know that sometimes he will have a call like this go against him because of how aggressively he plays. And to be fair, a call like this is more likely to go against him when he struggles like he did in the second half last night. Nevertheless, it was the sort of hand combat that is usually let go when the offensive player doesn't gain an extreme advantage, and Melo did not. I don't blame the loss on the foul, but when you saw Garnett get away with a trip on Douglas on the screen that freed Allen on his game winner, you had to wonder about consistency.

*  The decision to go with Douglas for extended minutes in the second half along with Billups (before Billups got hurt) was, I think, a mostly good one, especially since Douglas contributed positive plays on offense down the stretch. It looked like Fields would get the bulk of the time over Douglas with his extremely good defense on Ray Allen in the first half, but Landry dug his own grave by missing 3 shots at the start of the second half when the Celtics were rallying, and looking very much like a rookie in doing so -- he had zero confidence on offense.

With Billups' unfortunate injury, Fields may end up getting his minutes back in Game 2, and it's worth considering that Allen did most of his damage (scoring 16 of his 24 points on 6 of 11 FGs, including 3 of 5 three pointers) after Fields left the game. Douglas simply isn't as imposing a defender on Allen with the size he gives up.

* Speaking of Billups' injury, I fear that if he's truly done for the series, the Knicks may have to wait another year to win their first playoff game. I think the Knicks have enough pride to try and gut it out for a win in New York without him, but I'm not sure Douglas and Carter can really run an offense for 48 minutes against an elite defense like the Celtics' and expect to have much success.

Next game on Tuesday and it will be time for the bench to deliver even more meaningful minutes with Billups' likely absence. Amare's words in the post game press conference were voiced in a calm and positive manner, so let's hope the Knicks don't hang their heads and try and maintain the fight they showed in the first game.