Carmelo Anthony put the New York Knicks on his back Saturday afternoon in Game 1 of the Knicks' opening series in the 2013 playoffs, dropping 36 points on Boston to lead all scorers in an 81-76 victory.
Anthony was trigger-happy in the victory, hitting 13-of-29 shots, including 4-of-6 3-point shots, en route to his game high 36 points. Sixth man of the year candidate J.R. Smith was also not shy about jacking up shot attempts, going 7-of-19, and shooting an ugly 1-of-7 from beyond the arc, finishing with 15 points. Combined, Anthony and Smith took 44 of New York's 79 shots, which is more than half the team's attempts. Together, they were 45 percent from the field and 38 percent from 3-point land.
Knicks coach Mike Woodson did not seem to have any problem with Anthony taking as many shots as he did. 'Boston knows Melo and they know he's not going anywhere, but they're going to make it as tough as possible for him to score the ball. And he got off to a good start and then he had that slow middle, and then when he had to pick it up down the stretch, he made the plays that we needed him to make. And I mean that's what the great ones do. They figure it out and Melo's done that all season for our ballclub.''
Celtics coach Doc Rivers lamented his teams carelessness with the basketball, which resulted in 20 turnovers, seven more than the Knicks committed. ''If we had those turnovers in any game we probably should lose the game and we did. We were making post passes from the other side of the floor. I mean, those are just not good passes.''
The Celtics were paced by Jeff Green and Paul Pierce, who scored 26 and 21 points respectively. Kevin Garnett struggled, netting just eight points on 4-of-12 shooting. Game 2 will be held at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m.
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