Celtics Top Knicks in Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose's Absence for 50th Win

The Boston Celtics moved a game ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers atop the Eastern Conference standings with a 110-94 win over the shorthanded New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon.

It was also a historical win, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Despite being without Avery Bradley, who didn't travel with the team because of an illness, the Celtics cruised. They were led by Isaiah Thomas, who recorded 19 points and six assists in 24 minutes.

Thomas was pleased after the contest, via the NBA on Twitter:

Six players scored in double figures for the Celtics, including rookie Jaylen Brown, who earned the start in Bradley's stead and finished with 16 points in 27 minutes, including this nice cut to the basket and finish.

Courtney Lee (16 points) and Kristaps Porzingis (14 points) led the way for the Knicks, who were without Carmelo Anthony (back) and Derrick Rose (knee). Lee and Porzingis also provided two of the game's more exciting moments.

Lee drained this buzzer-beater to end the first quarter.

And Porzingis added a nice alley-oop finish in the third.

Boston has five regular-season games remaining, including a crucial home matchup against the Cavaliers on Wednesday that may decide the top seed in the East playoffs. The Cavs lead the season series, 2-1.

The Knicks front office likely isn't lamenting this loss, which dropped the team to just 0.5 games ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers in the East standings. The Sixers hold the fifth-worst record in the NBA and correspondingly, the fifth-best lottery odds. The loss also put the Knicks a full game ahead of the Sacramento Kings for the sixth-best lottery odds.

At this point, the tank is on in New York. The Knicks were once again without Anthony, who was held out of action for the fourth time in six games. The team also announced Sunday that Rose would require surgery for a torn meniscus and would miss the remainder of the season, per Ian Begley of ESPN.com.

Add Joakim Noah's 20-game suspension for using a banned substance, and the Knicks will likely close the 2016-17 season without Anthony, Rose and Noah—the three veterans who were brought together this offseason to lead New York back to the playoffs.

Postgame Reaction

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The Celtics were happy to reach the 50-win plateau.

"I've never won 50 games in my NBA career, so [it] definitely was an individual goal of mine coming into this season to win 50 games, and I'm just glad we got to that," Thomas said, according to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "But like I keep saying, we've got a lot more work to do."

Thomas also spoke about the upcoming matchup against the Cavaliers, per the Celtics:

Head coach Brad Stevens echoed both sentiments:

"

Couple years ago I would've thought that that was going to be something that we were really going to have to build for a while to, but I thought that obviously we've been lucky to strike on a couple of guys. Everybody's got a like mind with regard to the bigger purpose of playing for the Celtics and trying to compete every night.

So we're happy, but we've got to finish out these next five games well and then get ready for the playoffs and we'll look at whatever we accomplish at the end of the season at the end of the season.

"

Many of the Knicks, meanwhile, lamented the loss of Rose.

"I thought he's played well," Hornacek said, per the AP. "The explosiveness that you saw years ago, you saw [this year]. Again, the way the season has gone, to have something like that happen towards the end is a bad break for us."

"I feel bad for him," Porzingis added, per Steve Popper of NorthJersey.com. "I know how hard he worked throughout the season to maintain the shape that he has and make sure he avoids all those injuries as much as he can, and to see that happen to him right now at the end of the season, it's tough. I'm sure he will come back stronger."