Knicks: Celtics Stick a Fork in Knicks with Game 3 Blowout

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Knicks Fall Flat in First Playoff Game at Madison Square Garden in Seven Years

As soon as it was set in stone that the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks would be doing battle in the first round of the NBA playoffs, I was one of many who thought that we were going to have a king-hell barn burner of a series on our hands.

When it comes to such things as the NBA playoffs, predictions are absolutely necessary. And as I saw it, the Knicks had enough firepower to take the defending Eastern Conference champs to seven games.

Boy was I wrong.

In case you didn't get a chance to see it, the Celtics destroyed the Knicks in Game 3 by the final of 113-96. After winning the first two games in Boston, they now hold a commanding 3-0 series lead, and they can finish off the Knicks in Game 4 on Sunday.

Needless to say, this was hardly the dream ending for the first Knicks playoff game Madison Square Garden has hosted in seven years. Because the Knicks haven't won a playoff game at the Garden in a decade, Friday night's showing looks even worse.

The Knicks got off to a very rough start in Game 3. The Celtics had a 22-5 lead eight minutes into the game, and they had a 23-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Carmelo Anthony ended up making just four shots all night, and Amar'e Stoudemire and his ailing back weren't able to do much.

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Meanwhile, it seemed like the Celtics could do nothing wrong. Paul Pierce scored 14 points in the first quarter on his was to a game-high 38 points, Ray Allen scored 32 points on the strength of eight threes, and Rajon Rondo had a triple-double that included a Celtics playoff-record 20 assists.

Technically, the Knicks are still alive in this series. Realistically, however, they're dead and buried. No team in NBA history has ever climbed out of a 3-0 hole to win a best-of-seven series, and the notion that they can be the first with Stoudemire hurting and Chauncey Billups unable to play with a bum knee.

Oh well. I suppose we probably should have seen this coming. The Knicks had us fooled with the little hot streak they went on at the end of the regular season, but it's easy to forget that the competition level tends to sag in the final weeks of the NBA season.

If nothing else, kudos to the Knicks for making sure the joke was on us while they still could. Right now, however, the joke is on them. My guess is that it will be after Sunday as well.

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