After a long lockout, basketball came back yesterday and the Knicks gave fans at Madison Square Garden an exciting Christmas Day game, beating the Boston Celtics 106-104. Carmelo Anthony contributed 37 points, with 17 coming in the fourth quarter. He told reporters after the game, "As a new team, we showed something today. We came together as a team even when we got down and we willed our way through this win today."
Of course, the Celtics were playing without its star, Paul Pierce, and the Knicks managed to squander a 17 point lead AND lose their rookie Iman Shumpert to a knee injury. But in the end, the Knicks battled through.
Coach Mike D'Antoni said, "I don’t think we’re a lot better today than the team last year. But in two months or three months, we should be a lot better than we were last year."
