In their third bout of the year, the Boston Celtics steal one from their division rivals, The New York Knicks, at Madison Square Garden. Isaiah Thomas, who was recently selected as an All-Star reserve, delivered another balanced performance to reinforce his place in the All-Star game. Thomas finished with a game-high 20 points and 8 assists, and also made his presence felt on the boards with 5 defensive rebounds. He has had a career year in the Celtics, accelerating their rebuild and having them in the middle of the playoff picture with 28 victories.

Carmelo Anthony struggled in his 35 minutes of play. He had an inefficient night, shooting 4-of-16 and scoring only 16 points. Despite his struggles on the offensive end, Anthony came up with a game-high 14 boards for his team. During the first quarter, Anthony was called for a Flagrant 1 foul after elbowing Jae Crowder across the chin. Baffled by the call, Coach Derek Fisher barked at the officials for their discretion. Ultimately, this resulted in a technical foul against New York’s coach. After sinking their three free throws and a subsequent field goal, the Celtics completed a 5-point possession.

Aaron Afflalo led the way for the Knicks in scoring with a team-high 18 points. Robin Lopez was right behind him with 17 points, also grabbing an impressive 11 offensive rebounds (13 total). The big problem for the Knicks was looking for offense and defense from their second unit. Off the bench, Sasha Vujačić attacked and scored 13. Even with Vujačić’s efforts, the Knicks bench only scored 27 points combined while the Celtic’s bench tallied 47.

The Celtic’s bench really made the difference in The Garden. Evan Turner, who took over in the 4th quarter, scored 14 in regulation and pulled down 10 rebounds. Tyler Zeller also logged a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Zeller has been deep in the Celtic’s depth chart, behind Amir Johnson, Jared Sullinger, and Kelly Olynyk. Tuesday, he seized the opportunity to display his efforts. The final offensive force off of the Celtic’s bench was Olynyk with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

Despite the victory, The Celtics were atrocious from the three-point line. The Celtics finished the first half 0-of-13 from deep and concluded regulation with 3-of-19, 16% shooting. The Knicks were just above, finishing 6-of-20.

After another physical game, the Celtics find themselves edging the Knicks this season 2-1. They will meet again at TD Garden in Boston to play their final game on March 4th.

The Knicks will look to bounce back on Thursday against Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons. After losing six of their last seven games, it is important that the Knicks regain some momentum going into the All-Star break.  They have slipped to 23-28, but it being only February so their playoff aspirations are far from vanquished.