NBA playoffs: Knicks roll past Celtics to lead 3-0

Boston • The New York Knicks quieted the crowd and kept the Boston Celtics silent.

Now only the greatest collapse in NBA history would prevent them from reaching the second round again.

Carmelo Anthony scored 26 points and the Knicks moved to the brink of their first playoff series victory in 13 years, routing the Celtics 90-76 on Friday night in Game 3 of the first-round series.

Quickly taking the crowd out of it in the first NBA game here since the Boston Marathon bombings, the Knicks built a 16-point halftime lead and now are on the verge of taking out the Celtics.

"That first quarter on the road, you've got to make sure you take that first punch and we did that," Knicks veteran Jason Kidd said.

Raymond Felton added 15 points and 10 assists for the Knicks, who haven't advanced in the playoffs since reaching the 2000 Eastern Conference finals. They will go for the sweep here Sunday afternoon.

They'll have to hope they have J.R. Smith, who inexplicably threw an elbow right into Jason Terry's face with 7:06 left and was thrown out of the game with a flagrant foul 2, an automatic ejection. The league office will review the play and can fine or suspend Smith.

Jeff Green scored 21 points for the Celtics, who will try to become the first NBA team to win a series after trailing 3-0. They own the most titles in league history, but their present looks extremely bleak.

Fans cheered the responders who helped after the marathon but booed the Celtics, who managed only 31 points in the first two quarters, getting their bad half out of the way early this time. They had been held to 25 and 23 points after halftime while dropping the two games in New York.

Smith finished with 15 points for the Knicks, who are loaded with veterans who've had playoff success the franchise hadn't in recent years and weren't fazed by the pregame atmosphere. Once the game started, they simply outplayed the Celtics, as they have while going 6-1 against them dating the regular season.

"I didn't think we showed up not to play well," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I thought overall our effort was there, I thought we did lose our spirit early on." Knicks 90, Celtics 76

FG FT Reb

N.Y. Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Shumprt 20:12 1-5 1-2 2-8 2 3 4

Anthony 37:04 12-25 0-0 0-1 0 3 26

Chandler 29:51 3-4 0-0 1-8 0 1 6

Prigioni 29:51 3-6 0-0 1-2 1 2 9

Felton 34:42 7-14 0-1 0-2 10 1 15

Smith 24:21 6-12 1-3 0-4 3 4 15

Martin 16:35 2-4 1-2 1-4 0 5 5

Kidd 26:14 0-1 0-0 0-6 6 0 0

Novak 16:28 3-4 0-0 1-2 0 0 8

JWhite 1:34 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Copeland 1:34 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Richardsn 1:34 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 240:00 38-76 3-8 6-37 22 19 90

Percentages: FG .500, FT .375. 3-Point Goals: 11-27, .407 (Prigioni 3-6, Novak 2-3, Smith 2-5, Anthony 2-6, Felton 1-3, Shumpert 1-3, Kidd 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 11 (8 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Kidd 2, Felton, Martin). Turnovers: 11 (Felton 3, Smith 3, Anthony 2, Chandler, Copeland, Prigioni). Steals: 14 (Prigioni 5, Shumpert 3, Felton 2, Smith 2, Anthony, Novak). Technical Fouls: None. Flagrant Fouls: Smith, 7:06 fourth. Ejections: Smith, 7:06 fourth.

FG FT Reb

Boston Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Pierce 40:57 6-15 5-6 1-4 5 3 17

Green 43:41 8-17 3-4 2-9 4 2 21

Garnett 34:28 5-13 2-2 5-17 2 2 12

Bradley 32:42 1-4 0-0 0-1 0 1 2

Terry 34:47 4-9 3-4 0-1 2 3 14

Bass 23:26 1-5 1-2 3-7 1 1 3

Lee 10:59 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Crawford 13:02 2-5 0-0 0-1 0 2 5

Williams 5:58 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Totals 240:00 28-70 14-18 11-41 14 14 76

Percentages: FG .400, FT .778. 3-Point Goals: 6-19, .316 (Terry 3-5, Green 2-5, Crawford 1-2, Garnett 0-1, Bradley 0-2, Pierce 0-4). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 18 (26 PTS). Blocked Shots: 1 (Bass). Turnovers: 17 (Green 5, Pierce 5, Terry 3, Bass, Bradley, Crawford, Garnett). Steals: 6 (Garnett 2, Terry 2, Bradley, Pierce). Technical Fouls: None.

New York 23 24 21 22 — 90

Boston 18 13 21 24 — 76

Attendance • 18,624 Time • 2:15.

Officials • Dan Crawford, Marc Davis, Michael Smith.