game 5 Archives

New York Knicks Win – Lives To Play Another Day

It’s back to Indiana on Saturday, as the Pacers failed to end the Knicks season at Madison Square Garden. Or maybe it was the Knicks failing to go down in front of the home crowd. Either way, the Knicks began the game with two baskets by Carmelo Anthony and New York kept the lead for the rest of the game.

Final score was Knicks 85, Pacers 75.

Knicks were still out rebounded by 3 in this game (43-40), but they were more desperate for the win and played with a sense of urgency they missed in game 4. The spark for the Knicks tonight came from Copeland, who played 19 minutes but was automatic from the three-point line.

Copeland 13 points, 9 of those points coming from beyond the three-point arch. He pulled down 4 rebounds and had 2 steals.

Anthony led all scoring with 28 points.

Indiana leads the series 3 games to 2. Game six is scheduled for Saturday in Indiana.

Boston Too Strong For New York – A Game 6 Is On The Schedule

There was hope for New York fans as the Knicks went up by 11 points early in the first quarter of game 5, but it turned out to be a false sense of security as the Boston Celtics just refused to let their season come to an end on the Garden floor. And at the end of the first quarter, that 11 point cushion quickly evaporated resulting in a 22 – 20 lead for New York.

And the evaporation continued with Boston playing their best basketball since this series started. Led by Paul Pierce and Jason Terry in the second quarter, Boston scored 25 points, while keeping the Knicks to only 17.

At halftime, Boston led 45 – 37.

It was a three-point expedition and Pierce was throwing them up all over the place. At one point, it seemed as if the Knicks players were all spectators, sitting on the bench as Pierce put up yet another uncontested three pointer. But Paul Pierce was not the only dagger in the Knicks sides, oh no. The Refs made some calls that had everyone scratching their heads. Reminded me of the NFL lockout when the temporary referees were the laughing-stock of all of sports.

But back to basketball.

Carmelo Anthony did not produce the MVP type game everyone expected. He played 45 minutes, shooting a dismal 8 of 24 field goals for a very quiet 22 points. J. Smith, the missing element in the Knicks loss in Boston was on the court for game 5, but did not produce the Sixth Man of the year caliber game either. Plagued by the constant whistle by the referees, Smith played a total of 36 minutes, shooting a horrendous 3 for 14 field goals, getting only 14 points for his troubles. At one point, he went took 11 straight shots, making zero.

Boston on the other hand couldn’t miss. They were led by J. Green with 18 points, followed by B. Bass who shot 6 of 7 field goals, in his 40 minutes of play. Bass got 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Jason Terry also had 17 followed by Pierce and Garnett with 16 each.

Final score in the game was Boston 92, Knicks 86. The series now heads back to Boston for game 6 on Friday. No other NBA team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series, but Boston is definitely giving it their best shot.