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Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points, including the game-clinching free throws, and the Knicks topped the Celtics, 106-104, in a thrilling game in the Christmas Day opener.
The first game of the 2011-12 NBA season and the first of four on Christmas Day did not disappoint. The New York Knicks, led by Carmelo Anthony, came back in the fourth quarter for a season-opening 106-104 victory.
Anthony scored 17 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, hitting a number of shots to keep the Knicks in the game late, and hit two free throws with 16 seconds left to finish the comeback. New York outscored Boston 27-17 in the final period.
Amar'e Stoudemire added 21 points for the Knicks, and Toney Douglas had 19 points.
Rajon Rondo, the subject of trade talk in the offseason, starred for the Celtics, with 31 points, 13 assists, and five steals. His great play made up for the absence of Paul Pierce, who sat with an injury.
Ray Allen and Brandon Bass each had 20 points for the Celtics, and Kevin Garnett, who missed a potential game-tying jumper at the buzzer, had 15 points.
For more on the Knicks, visit Posting and Toasting; for more on the Celtics, head to Celtics Blog.
The New York Knicks were hoping that Iman Shumpert, a rookie from Georgia Tech, could help them in the backcourt, especially while Baron Davis and Mike Bibby get back to game shape. Alas, less than three quarters into the 2011-12 season, Shumpert has sustained an apparent right knee injury, knocking him out of the Knicks' season opener against the Boston Celtics.
And it didn't look pretty, either.
On the play, Amar'e Stoudemire apparently trips Chris Wilcox, who collides with Shumpert and crumples the Knicks guard. Shumpert would need to be helped off the court, and has not returned to the game. Craig Sager reported on air that Shumpert's injury is a sprained MCL, which could force him to miss two weeks.
Shumpert had scored 11 points in the game, but had done so despite making just three of his 13 field goal attempts. Without Shumpert, the Knicks are down to just Toney Douglas, Landry Fields, and Bill Walker in their backcourt.
For more on the Knicks, head to Posting and Toasting.
No words. Just a visual representation of why Carmelo Anthony can be arguably the league's most unstoppable isolation scorer.
For more on the Christmas Day NBA season-opening slate, visit this StoryStream. We'll have live updating scores and more on the Celtics vs. Knicks event page. For more on the Knicks, visit Posting and Toasting and SB Nation New York. For more on the Celtics, visit Celtics Blog and SB Nation Boston.
Rajon Rondo may be having a fantastic game for the Celtics against the Knicks — most of the way through the third quarter, he has 29 points, eight assists, and five steals — but he is still susceptible to the well-placed elbow to the nose. GIF after the jump.
The new era of the New York Knicks is off to a great start. Led by 17 points from Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks have a comfortable 62-52 lead over the Boston Celtics at halftime of the first game of the NBA's Christmas Day season-opening slate. The Knicks are shooting 48.8 percent and are scoring easily on Boston's vaunted defense.
Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire have both been impressive for the Knicks, with Stoudemire chipping in 12 points on 5-6 shooting. Rajon Rondo has a game-high 19 points for the Celtics, but the rest of his teammates have struggled. Kevin Garnett has just seven points and one rebound, while Ray Allen has just three points. Paul Pierce is sitting out due to a heel injury.
For more on the Christmas Day NBA season-opening slate, visit this StoryStream. We'll have live updating scores and more on the Celtics vs. Knicks event page. For more on the Knicks, visit Posting and Toasting and SB Nation New York. For more on the Celtics, visit Celtics Blog and SB Nation Boston.
The New York Knicks are off to a strong start early in their Christmas Day NBA season opener against the Boston Celtics. Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire have been solid, and the Knicks have gotten a balanced scoring effort to take a 34-23 lead on the Celtics after one quarter.
The Knicks' defense has been impressive in holding the Celtics down. Rajon Rondo has nine points already, but none of the other Celtics' big guns have gotten going. Meanwhile, New York has received nine points from Anthony, five points from Stoudemire and seven points from rookie Iman Shumpert. Stoudemire has even showed off his new three-point range.
For more on the Christmas Day NBA season-opening slate, visit this StoryStream. We'll have live updating scores and more on the Celtics vs. Knicks event page. For more on the Knicks, visit Posting and Toasting and SB Nation New York. For more on the Celtics, visit Celtics Blog and SB Nation Boston.
Craig Sager's suit is often the highlight of the NBA on TNT broadcast. We're getting a pretty good game between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks at the moment, so it might not be THE highlight, but it's awesome as always. For the first time during competitive basketball games this season, we present a screenshot of Sager in a classic Sager suit.
I'm not sure where one even purchases a suit jacket that color. That tie is also much cooler than any corny cartoony Christmas tie I've ever seen. But the best part of this suit might not stick out on first glance: The pocket square. Craig Sager's pocket square is basically a candy cane. WHERE DOES HE BUY THESE THINGS?
For more on the Christmas Day NBA season-opening slate, visit this StoryStream. We'll have live updating scores and more on the Celtics vs. Knicks event page. For more on the Knicks, visit Posting and Toasting and SB Nation New York. For more on the Celtics, visit Celtics Blog and SB Nation Boston.
It's hard to do a really good sports intro video these days. Seemingly every dramatic song has been used. The same awesome clips have been used over and over. Fans on YouTube get into the act, and there's an increasingly blurry line between awesome amateur videos and awesome professional videos. That's what makes TNT's Christmas Day NBA preview video montage all the more amazing.
The players themselves may be rusty after a long lockout robbed us of the beginning of the NBA season, but the TNT crew, featuring new addition Shaquille O'Neal, is in midseason form.
HT: @jose3030.
A number of NBA stars are wearing special shoes for the NBA's Christmas Day tipoff, but no one is getting into the spirit quite like Amar'e Stoudemire . The New York Knicks forward wanted everyone to know how super into Christmas he was, so he had Nike design him some sneakers with Christmas colors.
Image of the shoe comes via NBC's Darren Rovell on WhoSay. I'm not sure about you guys, but even on Christmas I've never been into the whole red and green together thing. A lot of the stars wearing specialized sneakers for today have better looking ones than Amar'e. I am hoping that this is both the first and last time that he's going to be using these, and that he'll be back to wearing his usual shoes shortly (and forever).
For more on the Christmas Day NBA season-opening slate, visit this StoryStream. For more on the Knicks, visit Posting and Toasting and SB Nation New York. For more on the Celtics, visit Celtics Blog and SB Nation Boston.
Carmelo Anthony will play his first NBA season opener for the New York Knicks on Christmas Day when the Knicks take on the Boston Celtics at noon, but his footwear will not correspond with his team's colors. Anthony will instead be wearing a green and orange shoe given to him by Jordan Brand to correspond with the holiday.
Here's a photo of the shoes, via CNBC's Darren Rovell:
The Knicks wear blue and orange, but Anthony will instead play in Christmas colors. The main outline of shoe is green, while the laces are orange and the bottom is red. Orange is sort of a Knicks color, so I guess that'll be the way Anthony recognizes his current team.
For more on the Christmas Day NBA season-opening slate, visit this StoryStream. For more on the Knicks, visit Posting and Toasting and SB Nation New York. For more on the Celtics, visit Celtics Blog and SB Nation Boston.
The Boston Celtics will open the 2011-12 NBA season against the New York Knicks on Christmas Day, and they'll have to do it without Paul Pierce. The star forward announced that he will not play in the game due to a heel injury suffered during the preseason.
Pierce had not played at all during the preseason due to the injury. He had been listed as doubtful to play earlier in the week, but he traveled with the team to New York, raising optimism that he might be able to go. However, it appears that the injury was too much to push for the first game in a truncated season. Pierce told reporters that the injury is a day-to-day thing.
With Pierce sidelined, Sasha Pavlovic will likely start at small forward. The Celtics just signed Mickael Pietrus on Saturday, but he won't be ready in time to play on Sunday.
For more on the Christmas Day NBA season-opening slate, visit this StoryStream. For more on the Knicks, visit Posting and Toasting and SB Nation New York. For more on the Celtics, visit Celtics Blog and SB Nation Boston.
Mickael Pietrus is the newest member of the Boston Celtics. The 29-year-old swingman, released last week by the Phoenix Suns, signed a one-year contract just minutes after clearing waivers, according to Boston.com. He announced his decision on Twitter:
I have decided to be part of The Boston Celtics Family.
— Mickael Pietrus (@MickaelPietrus) December 24, 2011
Pietrus won't play in the season opener on Sunday but is expected to join his teammates Tuesday in Miami after taking a physical on Monday. He will earn the veteran's minimum in Boston in addition to the guaranteed $5.3 million owed by the Suns.
For a while it looked like the Suns might trade Pietrus to another team in the Atlantic Division, but a deal with the Toronto Raptors fell through due to concerns about his knee, which was surgically-repaired in July.
"We are very excited to be able to add Mickael to our team," said Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge in a statement released by the team. "His skills as a perimeter defender and an outside shooter provide great versatility to the roster."
Pietrus is a nice addition for the Celtics, especially following the unexpected loss of Jeff Green for the season. Even though his knee may be a concern -- he missed the final 12 games of the 2010-11 season before undergoing surgery in July -- he's worth the risk given the minimal investment. The Raptors, on the other hand, would have been on the hook for his entire salary.
For more on the Celtics, visit CelticsBlog.
The New York Knicks made a trip to the playoffs last season, but they didn't look anything like a contender. They lacked a defensive presence in the middle to compliment Amar'e Stoudemire, played poor defense and were an average rebounding team. They addressed many of those issues with the signing of Tyson Chandler, but there are still lingering questions about whether or not they have enough defensively to hang with the Boston Celtics.
Those questions will linger for months, but even if the Knicks win the season opener in emphatic fashion. Jeff Green is out for the season, while Paul Pierce is doubtful for the opener with a heel injury. This means that Sasha Pavlovic is likely to see a lot of time, something the Knicks won't be too broken up about.
One injury does not make or break this Celtics team, however, and many will still back them to get by the Knicks due to their experience and chemistry. The other three members of the big four are healthy, and despite the advancing ages of Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, they should have at least one more year left in the tank. They should also benefit from a long offseason.
The Knicks should feel confident about opening the season with a win over their main rival in the current set of circumstances. If those circumstances change and Pierce is able to play productive minutes, we're probably looking at a much different ballgame.
Game Date/Time: Sunday, Dec. 25, 12:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
TV: TNT
For more on the two teams, check out Boston Celtics blog CelticsBlog and New York Knicks blog Posting and Toasting.
We probably won't get to see much of Paul Pierce against the New York Knicks during the first game of the NBA's Christmas tip-off marathon, but his prognosis has been upgraded ever so slightly. The Boston Celtics' small forward is now being called a game-time decision and we may not know if he's going to be in uniform until just before tip-off.
Pierce was previously being called doubtful with a heel injury and was not expected to play. No matter what, he's not going to play extended minutes, but it's good that he's at least gotten to the point where he's going to be evaluated at the arena. With Jeff Green out for the season with an injury, Sasha Pavlovic is Pierce's primary replacement, while Marquis Daniels will also see increased minutes of Pierce is not able to play. It's not exactly an insult to either man to point out that they are both a large downgrade from Pierce.
For more on the Celtics, visit Celtics Blog and SB Nation Boston. For more on the Knicks, check out Posting And Toasting and SB Nation New York.
Or lack thereof. The diehard New York Knicks fan will help welcome the Boston Celtics into Madison Square Garden for the first game of the NBA season at noon ET. He tweeted about one fear early Sunday.
Hopefully KG Will Respect The Birth Of Jesus Today And Refrain From Sprewing Profanities In My Direction.
You asking for miracles now, Spike?
The first game of the 2011-2012 NBA season is a great one, between Atlantic Division rivals Boston Celtics and New York Knicks will face off, rekindling a rivalry that produced a sweep by the Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, but four very entertaining regular season games.
The Knicks have added Tyson Chandler to their Carmelo Anthony-Amare Stoudemire superstar duo, looking for an interior defensive presence to help stop Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo from scoring in the pain. Though Chauncey Billups' typically stout perimeter defense went to Los Angeles by way of the amnesty clause, there's little doubt that the Knicks improved in the offseason.
On the contrary, with another year of age and the loss of forward Jeff Green to a heart condition, there's general consensus around the league that the Celtics will be on the decline. Though that will more likely surface as the condensed season wears on, the first game will be a good indication to how much the C's shallow bench will hurt them.
Game Date/Time: Sunday, Dec. 25, 12 p.m.
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y.
TV: TNT (National)
For more on these two teams, vist Knicks blog Posting And Toasting and CelticsBlog.
VIDEO: Kevin Garnett Shoves Bill Walker After Celtics' Loss To Knicks
by Mike Prada
What would the NBA be without an incident involving Kevin Garnett and a player less heralded than Kevin Garnett? It took just one game for something like that to happen to Garnett during the 2011-12 season. In the immediate seconds following the Boston Celtics' 106-104 loss to the New York Knicks on Christmas Day, Garnett and Bill Walker were tangled up, and Garnett shoved him away.
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Dec 25 3:10p