Knicks Edge Celtics 106-104 In Christmas Day Opener

It was a great opening day of the NBA and where better to kick it off than at Madison Square Garden with the Knicks and Celtics.  The Last decade or so it would have been easy to call the winner of this match up, but the Knicks are different team this year and come out on top of the veteran Celtics.

Carmelo Anthony was able to lead the Knicks over the Boston Celtics on Christmas day to a 106-104 win at home.  Anthony had 37 points and 8 rebounds.  The Knicks got off to a big start and lead in the first half by as much as 10 points, but the Celtics and Rajon Rondo battled back to make it a very interesting game.

At the end, it would come down to free throws and Carmelo Anthony and he made two big ones and then the Knicks defense was able to hold strong to avoid a tie.  Rondo led the way for Boston with 31 points 31 points and 13 assists.  20 points off the Celtic bench for Brandon Bass, but Boston was missing Paul Pierce, a big addition to that lineup.

New York had big help from Amare Stoudemire who put up 21 points.  Just 7 points from the newly added Tyson Chandler and 19 from Toney Douglas.  A tough loss for the Celtics and a big win for the New York Knicks.

[ESPN]