Green is Red Hot

NEW YORK - Less than a week ago, the Celtics were doing the limbo. At 1-6, they had achieved the franchise’s worst start in 28 years and were listing toward Secaucus. How low could they go?

Apparently the Bostonians were unwilling to lower themselves any further for the time being. With last night’s 122-118 victory over the Knicks, the Celts have won three straight for the first time in 19 months.

Paul Pierce had 39 points and Ryan Gomes scored 22 to go with a game-high 14 rebounds (his second double-double in three games). Wally Szczerbiak added 20 points and Sebastian Telfair 19.

To get out of here with the victory, the Celts had to go deep into the night (official game time 2:49) and watch a 20-point lead drain entirely. But after Pierce and Telfair made some key plays down the stretch, the C’s had their first three-game winning streak since April 12-17, 2005, when they won four in a row.

Last night was the Celts’ first road win of the season, and they got it despite 37 points off the Knicks bench by Jamal Crawford.

“That was a crazy game,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers after watching the teams combine for a whopping 113 free throws (the C’s were 50-for-53; Pierce was 18-for-22). “We were trying to find ways to keep it interesting at the end (Tony Allen’s foul while Steve Francis was making a trey), and obviously we’ve got a film of mistakes we can show our guys.

“But at the end of the day we won the game, and I got to use a joke that I’ve had saved up for quite some time. You want to hear it? The Web site is back up - www, three in a row. It’s about time. It’s been down for a whole year.”

source

Sound off in the Boston Celtics Forums!