Knicks Blow Double-Digit Lead in Loss to Celtics
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BOSTON – Mark Blount scored 22 points, Paul Pierce had 21, and Kendrick Perkins shattered his career high with 13 rebounds last night as the Boston Celtics turned back the division-leading Knicks 114-109.
Nazr Mohammed had 22 points and 18 rebounds, Jamal Crawford scored 25, and Stephon Marbury had 12 points and 10 assists for the Knicks, who were hoping to bounce back from Tuesday’s 123-94 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
But the Knicks blew a 14-point, first quarter lead while losing to Boston for the 11th time in 14 games.
Perkins’s previous career high was three rebounds. Marcus Banks added 11 points – all in the fourth quarter – and the 6-foot-2 point guard also had two blocked shots for Boston.
The game matched the two top teams in the woeful Atlantic Division, where the Knicks hold a half-game lead despite a 13-13 record.
The Knicks led by 14 in the first and 10 in the third before the Celtics scored eight consecutive points to tie it 74-all with 3:53 left in the quarter. New York still led 84-80 at the start of the fourth quarter when Walter McCarty hit a 3-pointer and then stole the ball from Jerome Williams to set up Ricky Davis’s 18-footer that gave the Celtics the lead.
Banks made two quick baskets for Boston, and the Celtics led 89-87 when Davis drove for a dunk and then Pierce hit a 3-pointer from the left side to make it a seven-point lead, forcing the Knicks to call timeout.
But Banks followed that with a steal and a pair of free throws, then Davis made a great steal and saved the ball from going out of bounds. That set up Pierce’s dunk on a fast-break pass from Banks to give Boston a 98-87 lead.
After a 15-footer from Kurt Thomas, who played most of the game in foul trouble, McCarty hit another 3 to give Boston a 12-point lead – its biggest of the game.
The Knicks made it 112-109 in the final seconds on Tim Thomas’s 3-pointer, but Banks made two free throws with eight seconds left to ice it.
It was the second time in five days the Celtics rallied from at least 14 points to win. They trailed Cleveland by 16 on Saturday before winning.
The Knicks have used the same starting five for all 26 games this season, the longest such streak for the team since they started keeping track in 1984-85.