Thomas scores 21, leads Celtics past Knicks, 100-91

The Knicks are becoming consistent, and not in a good way – another game, another double-digit deficit and another loss. However, the Knicks will have a big test on their hands on Sunday evening as they travel to TD Garden to take on the Boston Celtics in an Eastern Conference clash.

The Celtics thus won their fourth straight and handed the Knicks their fourth straight loss.

Stanley missed his first four shots, and looked uncomfortable and hesitant on all of his misses.

The teams met at The Palace on December 16 with the Pistons prevailing 119-116 behind shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s career-high 31 points. Coach Brad Stevens felt the schedule didn’t allow for much 5-on-5 play in practice, so the 6-foot-4 guard needed to get in shape through game action. “We stayed together. Our defense hung in there. But we all believe in him and we all knew that if he shot the ball, it had a chance of going in”.

Westbrook collected 12 assists and nine rebounds to go along with his 11 of 17 shooting.

Jae Crowder had another solid game all around.

Kobe Bryant, playing in only the first and third quarters, scored 19 for the Lakers, with 14 in the opening quarter. Two Porzingis free throws with 4:48 left kept the Knicks within five at 90-85.

A three-pointer by Anthony with 5:30 to play brought the Knicks within 88-83 – as close as they had been in the second half. Aside from Bradley (3-of-10), Boston shot 1-of-13 from 3-point range against the Pistons and it is 11-of-52 over the last two games.BUZZER BEATERS1.

Brandon Knight had 21 points for the Suns, who lost point guard and leading scorer Eric Bledsoe to a left knee sprain with 7:40 remaining in the second quarter. Isaiah Thomas leads in points with 20.9 and in assists with 6.8 per game.

Zoom way out, and BPI gives Boston the edge in 28 of its next 32 games, a staggering number when you consider the Cavaliers are projected to lose seven games in that span.

“For sure”, Fisher said. “That’s where we really got ourselves in trouble”. “Now our problem is our starters are giving us nearly nothing, in terms of energy especially”.

“I think we’re making progress”. “The thing about Jae (is) that I think Jae has really improved on throughout the years; being in the right place at the right time from a position standpoint because he’s so… he’s a good physical defender when he’s there”.

This stretch of games for the Celtics will be highly indicative of how they will play later on in the season, and numerous games in this stretch hold playoff implications.

The win was Boston’s fourth in a row, while the Knicks fell for the fourth straight time. They were outscored 25-11 during a 7:12 span in the quarter as Boston opened up a 47-33 lead. The key to success against Detroit will be continuously boxing out young center Andre Drummond, as he pulls in a ridiculous 16.1 rebounds a game.

The Knicks played sloppy basketball. The Pistons committed three straight turnovers, while the Celtics had a missed lay-up and a giveaway, before Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Thomas hustled for a loose ball and became entangled as they crashed to the ground in front of the Celtics’ bench. “I watched him in college as well, so I don’t get surprised at all”. Backup center Kelly Olynyk drained a 3-pointer later in the quarter to nudge the lead to 15 at 74-59.