Carmelo Anthony's game goes afoul
Carmelo Anthony #7 of the New York Knicks tries to keep the ball from Rajon Rondo #9 of the Boston Celtics. (March 4, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
BOSTON -- It wasn't a great look, but it was good enough. Carmelo Anthony had a chance to give the Knicks an emotional win at the regulation buzzer Sunday, but his jumper from the right side was just off.
"It had a chance to go in," he said. "I had a chance to make it. I missed it. It happens."
Anthony had scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks get to overtime. But he went 0-for-4 in the extra session as the Celtics won, 115-111.
"There's always frustration when you leave the building without a win," said Anthony, who finished with 25 points and one big regret: the third foul he picked up with nine-tenths of a second left in the first half. That, when added to another one he got midway through the third quarter, led to too much pine time when the Knicks could have used their leading scorer.
"That was a big play," Anthony said of the last-second foul called against him that allowed Rajon Rondo to hit two free throws. "I thought he ran into me. But he did a good job. That was a good, smart play by Rondo running into me . . . That was just a bonehead play on my part."
The Knicks were down by four when Anthony exited after picking up his fourth foul with 6:29 left in the third. The deficit ballooned to 15 by the 1:32 mark. It was back down to seven by the time Anthony returned with 8:40 to go in the fourth.
The rest of the quarter featured a classic Anthony-Paul Pierce duel that harked back to last season's playoffs. Pierce had nine in the fourth, including the three-pointer with 4.9 seconds left that tied the score at 103.
"It's going to always be a tough battle between us and the Celtics," Anthony said. "We came back, made it a game and it came down to the end. Paul hit that rainbow shot at the end. A game like this is tough. It'd be more exciting and more of a thrill that we could have won the game. But it happens. We move on."
Pierce, who finished with 34, said: "The great players, they really like to play in these types of games. They like to step up, as you saw. Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Rondo, myself, Melo hit some big shots. That's what makes the game of basketball and these type of games versus New York so much fun because you always see great players rise to the finish."
