Every Knick fan has looked forward to the team and at least one of its stars putting forth an effort like last night, on a playoff stage so unfamiliar to New York in recent years. Carmelo Anthony had 42 points, and almost every one of his baskets represented a lifeline as the Knicks constantly flirted with being run out of Boston.  Role players that had no business playing major minutes in a playoff game scrapped their rear ends off, making clutch baskets when the ball came their way or hustling after rebounds and loose balls when their shots wouldn't fall.

It's a bittersweet feeling when all that protean scoring and the miles of effort yield a familiar ending, when fans are left drenched in total frustration from witnessing the brief lapses in judgement, mental errors, and the other team simply executing a bit better. Moral victories are especially thin straws to clutch at during the playoffs, where each loss puts your team that much closer to the edge of a cliff, where the judgment of everything the players and coaches do is that much harsher when the final result is not a win.

But the Knicks did a lot right when the odds were against them all game, without Chauncey Billups and Amare Stoudemire, without a functional Landry Fields (whose confidence looks shot despite the team's efforts to get him going). That's three starters who either didn't play or played very weak minutes last night. (If the rumors of Turiaf being hurt late in last night's game are true, that would be four starters, as Turiaf sat out of most of the critical final quarter). As Marv Albert put it wryly on the TNT broadcast as the television cameras surveyed the players on the court and then the Knick bench, "looks like it's Carmelo and four guys".

Carmelo and four guys came within 19 seconds of pulling it off. And it was an inspiring sight against a heavily favored team on its home court, even if the ending was another frustrating letdown.

Game Notes:

*  Rondo vs Douglas: Massive Mismatch:  A few pundits expected that Douglas starting in place of the injured Billups might be a blessing in disguise for the Knicks, who would (supposedly) give the Celtics fits with his more tenacious defense....and they were wrong. Anyone familiar with Douglas' strengths and weaknesses understands that Douglas on Rondo is probably the worst matchup for the Knicks. Toney is all about relentless ball pressure full court, fighting through screens, and swiping at the ball from behind and causing turnovers when his man gets past him. This works well with more deliberate guards that like to shoot behind screens; it's a disaster against Rondo, who's best defended at a healthy distance and who chews up ball pressure like Douglas' without a second thought.

Rondo shot 6 of 8 in the first quarter and met zero resistance from TD, who waved him by frequently in transition for fear of picking up early fouls, then proceeded to pick up two quick fouls anyway. Douglas was so flustered by Rondo's early scoring (and was perhaps overwhelmed by having to carry the team in only his 2nd playoff game) that he had a brutal first half, missing six of eight shots and handing out only one assist.

Toney was better in the second half and had some big baskets (including two big three pointers) that kept the team in the game. Rondo continued to punish him the entire second half though -- he also generated the crucial turnover with 1:30 left (stealing the ball from Douglas from behind after a handoff from Bill Walker, a move that's TD's specialty) that enabled the Celtics to gain the lead (and momentum) back.

If the Knicks are going to make this a series when they return to NY, they have to find a way to keep this guard matchup a lot less lopsided.

*  Melo Rescuing the Knicks, Over and Over: Anthony actually had a bit of a rough start against the Celtics defense, but after the Knicks fell behind early at 23-13, he went to work against Jeff Green, scoring six points on two three point plays sandwiched around an Anthony Carter jumper to get the first quarter Celtic lead down to 23-21. He ended the first half with a driving dunk, an 18 foot jumper and an assist to Jeffries to keep the Knicks tied with the Celtics at the half at 44-44.

And after the Knicks fell behind 74-63 and seemed ready to be put away by the Celtics, he converted a tough jumper and drew a last second foul (making two FTs) to end the third quarter, He then scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter, assisted Turiaf on a pick and roll. then made another tough fade away jumper to give the Knicks the lead at 78-76, which set the stage for the final seven and a half minutes of drama.

it would have been an amazing performance if it had been with the regular Knick lineup. The fact that he made it happen with such a shorthanded Knick group was extremely impressive and a marvelous turnaround from the previous game's terrible shooting. Anthony also played point forward for significant minutes in the third and fourth quarter and did a fine job of finding his teammates when the opportunity presented itself.

*  Jared Jeffries: Before the Final Play, the Knicks' Co-MVP: The final play -- a weak Jeffries pass that was intercepted by Garnett -- will get all the play in the morning news stories, a shame because prior to that, Jared was as important as any Knick not named Carmelo. On defense, he rotated crisply, he was the most effective defender on Rondo, he took turns guarding Pierce and Big Baby Davis and Garnett and O'Neal (the only member of the Celtic starting five he didn't guard was Ray Allen), and he even made several layups off of assists from teammates. He had four offensive rebounds and a couple of other taps/deflections that were a part of the Knicks' amazing 42 percent offensive rebound rate.

A small example of what he did to keep the Knicks in the game that didn't show up in the box score: in the fourth quarter, Rondo ran some pick and roll action with Garnett in three successive sequences, and Toney Douglas had trouble with it every time and seemed to cross signals with Turiaf on coverage. When Jeffries entered the game for Turiaf, the play was defended more effectively, with Jeffries  smothering Rondo after he came off the screen for an attempted layup, but taking away his passing angle back to Garnett as well.

*  Crazy Lineups That Never Played Together, But Played With Trust:  A national television audience saw much more of players like Shawne Williams, Roger Mason and Anthony Carter than they ever expected they would, thanks to all the Knick injuries. The lineup that played the most minutes in the fateful fourth quarter -- Mason, Jeffries, Walker, Douglas and Anthony -- had never played as a five man unit together prior to last night, and yet they had to somehow gel and stay in the game against the Celtics.

The most impressive part of the final quarter was how a lot of the scoring was not through isolations or pounding it into Carmelo (though there were definitely a few iso sequences), but through the offense flowing the way it has since the trade, except without Stoudemire and Billups. In some sets, Anthony handled the ball, dribbled around screens, and found cutters or open shooters; in other cases, Douglas probed the defense and took advantage of the Celtics' attention to Anthony to find seams or drive baseline and find Mason for an open three pointer. And when it all broke down, the team got five offensive rebounds in the quarter.

D'Antoni's overall sense of who to play and when to play them largely worked well considering he didn't have much to work with at all -- for example, despite the PG issues, he wasn't tempted to play Anthony Carter too many minutes, which I felt was wise (Carter provided good minutes, but his propensity for turnovers threatened to give the Celtics an opportunity to blow the game open). And while some felt Bill Walker got too many minutes considering his 0-11 shooting night and some hideous lapses on both ends, the decision to play him in place of Shawne Williams in the fourth quarter was defensible.

Playing Roger Mason was a head-scratcher at first, but it may have been the most sneaky-inspired choice, given his previous playoff experience (even with that one really ugly three point miss after a steal). The only non-move I wondered about was not giving Turiaf more minutes in place of Jeffries, especially since Turiaf's post defense may have been a better option on Garnett in the closing seconds. Additionally, on that final Knick possession Turiaf might have been surer with the ball and laid it in -- or Turiaf could have set screens that freed Douglas or Anthony for a clean jumper. But Turiaf may have been hurt anyway, and if you watch the final Knick play, Jeffries actually sets outstanding screens to set up Carmelo for receiving the pass.

The Knicks shot 32 percent through three quarters, but the lineup that never played together shot 10-22 in the final quarter, had 12 rebounds and 3 assists and put up 26 points against the Celtics. D'Antoni is receiving a lot of grief for the late game execution of the team the first two games, but consider how well and how hard his team of Anthony plus retreads played and executed in the final quarter to come back and make it a game in the first place.

*  The Final Play: I agree with Sebastian of NBA Playbook on this one -- the final play was a reasonably executed one, and if Jeffries looks to the rim immediately (as he showed he could do on three previous layups), he had an opportunity to score against a late Garnett rotation. I don't think Melo had anything but a terribly forced shot to take -- the only thing I might have liked to see in hindsight is Jeffries screening off Davis as he rolls to the lane, to delay or impede his double team of Melo. The slight opening provided by a bump or screen might have been enough for Melo to get a good shot off against Pierce. Alternatively, Melo could have swung the ball over to Mason for an open shot, but his passing angle in that direction was not that good.


Game three is on Friday, meaning a much needed spell of rest for the team. Friday at MSG is going to be fun to watch, though I have definite fears that the Celtics are going to wake up from their subpar play the first two games and put the hammer on the Knicks at home if the injuries continue to be an issue. Last night was a fantastic effort, but it was just one game. The Knicks can build from the effort and fight they showed, but it won't count for much if they don't improve some basic things (shooting, passing) and get some players back.