Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, two of the Eastern Conference's bottom teams will face off at the Boston Garden with the two squads aiming for different goals. The New York Knicks (25-40) are still trying frantically to reach the postseason, while the Celtics (22-42) seem content to try out young players and amass lottery ping pong balls. Live stream the game here; Knicks fans can catch the radio broadcast on 98.7 ESPN New York, while Celtics fans may do the same on WEEI 93.7.
The Knicks have piled up four straight wins against subpar competition, and amid rumors of Phil Jackson joining the front office are thriving under pressure. In their most recent win, a 123-110 offensive onslaught against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Knicks had multiple players go for big nights.
"I love nights like this," Carmelo Anthony said. "Four guys with 20-plus points. Sharing the ball. Making plays. Having fun out there. Taking the load off me. I love nights like that." During this stretch of hot play the Knicks are putting up 114 points per game; obviously the quality of defenses they're facing is below average, but they've taken advantage of the soft spot in the schedule like playoff teams tend to do.
They are currently 3.5 games out of the No. 8 seed, and need to pass the dysfunctional Detroit Pistons and sinking Atlanta Hawks.
The Celtics are more accepting of their situation, with head coach Brad Stevens electing to highlight the positives of an 83-point showing vs. the Indiana Pacers. "We shot 35 percent and we had the ball down two or three with three or four minutes to go. It was a pretty good effort by our guys," Stevens said.
"We're 16-10 assists to turnovers. We got 20 offensive rebounds. Everything went great except the ball going in the basket. That's okay, I feel like we're getting better, I really do and I think you can see it."
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