Final: Knicks 87, Celtics 71

After feeling confident coming into the game, the Celtics can't help but feel lost.

They fell to the Knicks in Game 2, 87-71.

Carmelo Anthony struggled in the first half, but he turned it on in the second half and finished with 34 points on 11-of-24 from the floor.

After back-to-back poor second halves and a lack of offensive rhythm through the first two games, one has to wonder where the Celtics go from here.

Here's a recap:

The good:

* Paul Pierce battled hard tonight. He scored a team-high 18 points in 38 minutes. He was constantly malled and double-teamed as soon as he touched the ball. He had to work for all of his points. The Truth did all he could tonight.

* Brandon Bass continues to grind. He finished with only 6 points, but he grabbed 10 rebounds. At this morning's shootaround, Doc Rivers said he wanted to get Bass more shots tonight. He only took 6 in 34 minutes. Bass needs to be more involved.

* The defense hasn't been the problem. It's been the offense. Although the Knicks have gone on prolonged scoring runs, the Celtics have held them to under 90 points in both games, and they've held the Knicks to 15 points under their season average. In Game 1, the Celtics held the Knicks to 41% and tonight they held them to 42%.


The bad:

* Wanna know how bad the second half was? It was the lowest scoring half in the playoff in team history. The third quarter in particular was brutal and ultimately decided the game. In the third, the Celtics scored only 11 points on 4-of-18 shooting (22%). On the other hand, the Knicks scored 32 points on 12-of-17 from the field (71%). There's been one quarter that has burned them in these first two games, and they both came in the second half.

* The offense. Offensive droughts are killing this team. It's been a problem all year long and it's been a problem through the first two games of this series.

* Jason Terry started off nicely, hitting his first 3 shots (all of them being three-pointers). After that, he missed his next 5 shots.

* Kevin Garnett is not right. Something is wrong there. He appeared to grabbing his stomach and/or side area several times throughout the second half. This is just pure speculation, but with the way he has played in this series thus far, and considering that fact that his foot is still bothering him, you can't help but wonder how much Garnett has much to offer for the rest of this series.


The Celtics will look to regroup over the next few days before the series resumes on Friday night at TD Garden at 8:00 p.m.