Carmelo Anthony misses last-second shot, Knicks blow 12-point halftime lead vs. Ray Allen & Celtics

BY FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER






BOSTON - For more than 47 minutes the Knicks were the better team and had the Boston Celtics exactly where they wanted them. But in the last 37.8 seconds, everything that could go wrong went horribly wrong.





Ray Allen, the NBA's all-time leading 3-point shooter, hit a three with 11.6 seconds remaining provided the winning margin and Carmelo Anthony, who had an awful second half, missed the potential game-winning three with two seconds left as Boston rallied for an emotional 87-85 Game 1 victory.

Allen's shot capped a wild comeback for Boston, which trailed by 12 at halftime, and looked very much like the oldest team in the NBA. But after Toney Douglas' 3-pointer gave the Knicks an 85-82 lead with 37.8 seconds to play the Knicks suffered a brutal defensive meltdown.

Rajon Rondo's half court inbound pass to Kevin Garnett resulted in a dunk and after Anthony was called for an offensive foul, Allen hit a three over Douglas to give the Celtics the win in the best-of-seven series.

Allen finished with 24 points and Garnett added 15 points and 13 rebounds. Paul Pierce added 18 for Boston, which has beaten the Knicks five straight times this season.

Anthony was 1-for-11 in the second half and finished with 15 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Stoudemire carried the Knicks in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of his 28 in the quarter including a vicious dunk over Garnett. But on the Knicks final two possessions, they ran plays for Anthony.

Chauncey Billups scored 10 points but sat the final 1:12 after re-injuring his left knee. Douglas added 8 points and starting center Ronny Turiaf added 9 points and five rebounds.

Anthony lasted less than a minute-and-a-half before heading to the bench with two fouls and that stunning turn of events turned out to be a lucky break for the Knicks. Bill Walker replaced Melo and immediately hit a 3-pointer. He scored seven points in the period and the despite Anthony sitting the last 10 minutes of the quarter the Knicks only trailed 24-23.

When Anthony returned, his took out his frustrations on the Celtics. He scored 12 points in the period as the Knicks outscored Boston 28-15 in the second quarter.

While the Knicks played with confidence and a bounce to their step, the Celtics looked unsure of themselves. They had a tendency to overpass, resulting in a couple of shot clock violations and three-second calls.

But mostly, the Celtics were betrayed by their bread-and-butter: defense. The Knicks shot 54 percent in the opening half with Anthony and Stoudemire combining to shoot 9-for-15.