Knicks lead Celtics at half, 58-53

Irving and Smith made 3-pointers and Iman Shumpert, who came in 1 for 11 in his last four games behind the arc, knocked down a deep shot from the corner to tie it 53-all.

With a monumental match up between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers on the horizon, Friday's game against the lowly New York Knicks had all the makings of a let down for Boston. "I think we can go as far as we possibly can". He went for a quick play, with Avery Bradley driving off an Evan Turner pick for what would be the final points of the night.

The Cavs were down 18 points in the first quarter but regrouped and stopped Boston's winning streak at five games.

Anthony was fouled with three seconds left, but the Knicks were out of timeouts, so they couldn't draw up a play, leading to Anthony's heave on the ensuing play. When there are days without travel or games, it can sometimes be just as valuable to rest as it is to get back on the court, particularly late in a season.

"It's not one thing that went wrong, just can't really pinpoint something", Porzingis said. "It's just a matter of us locking in and not overlooking any opponent and taking care of our business day by day". "At that point, I was trying to gather myself, and I turned around".

Those were just two of the 30 fastbreak points the Celtics scored Friday night, but there were no two bigger. "I thought that, obviously, we don't win this game without him - and we probably don't win the last NY game without him".

Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics with 27 points and Jared Sullinger had 17 with 13 rebounds. Arron Afflalo scored 17 points, rookie Kristaps Porzingis added 15 points, big man Robin Lopez had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Jose Calderon contributed 13 points and five assists.

And since the Knicks are no longer playing good basketball, they can't hide the bad story lines that inevitably surround the team.

Carmelo actually hit a jumper to give the Knicks a late lead and it felt like one of those games where the better team leaves it too late and their comeback falls just short. On top of all that, they've lost 16 of 19. "We weren't engaged on both ends of the floor and it nearly cost us the game". The win was the Celtics' twelfth in a row at home and their fourth in a row overall. Next up for the Celtics is a road game against the Cavs Saturday night, followed by a road and a home game against the Raptors later this month.

According to NBA.com the Knicks normally only allow 12.6 opponent fast break points per game, which is actually slightly below the league average.

Boston was down 100-93 with less than three minutes remaining in the game and had made just two field goals over the previous six and a half minutes. After erasing an eight-point deficit during that time, the Celtics still needed to force New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, one of the world's best scorers, into a miss as time expired. "I should not have responded the way I did". The C's experienced inconsistent offensive stretches, they lacked communication on defense and the Knicks - particularly Carmelo Anthony - seemed to be hitting every hard shot under the sun.

Fox News Republican presidential debate in Detroit
How can you confront her today?", Cruz asked. "Donald, please, I know it's hard not to interrupt, but try", Cruz said. Also Thursday, dozens of conservative national security experts warned that Trump is unfit to be commander in chief.