BOSTON _ Carmelo Anthony put the drama with him and team president Phil Jackson behind him, saying it was important that he's there for his teammates. But Anthony's teammates had his back Wednesday night.
Anthony didn't have a great shooting night, but Derrick Rose and the Knicks' bench made up for it.
Playing one of their best games of the season, and a rare complete one, the Knicks knocked off the Celtics, 117-106, at TD Garden.
Rose matched his season high with 30 points, including 12 in the fourth, when the Knicks (19-24) pulled away from Boston.
The undermanned Knicks, who were without Kristaps Porzingis (sore left Achilles), Joakim Noah (sprained left ankle) and Lance Thomas (fractured left orbital bone), led by 14 in the fourth and won for just the third time in the last 14 games.
Backup big man Willy Hernangomez added 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead a bench effort that poured in 55 points. Mindaugas Kuzminskas, who started his second straight game, also had 17. Anthony finished with 13 on 5-for-14 shooting. Earlier in the day, Anthony said he'd moved on after his brief conversation about his future with Jackson on Tuesday.
Reserve guard Justin Holiday had 13 points and Courtney Lee had a solid all-around game with nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists off the bench.
Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics (26-16) with 39 points; Jae Crowder added 21. Boston center Al Horford had a rough night, shooting 2-for-14 from the field, including 1-for-8 from 3-point range.
After leading by 12 in the third quarter, the Knicks were up 88-83 at the start of the fourth. The Celtics cut it to 97-96 with 7:57 left. But the Knicks answered with back-to-back 3s by Holiday and Lee to make it 103-96.
Later, the Knicks regained their 12-point cushion, 112-100, after an Anthony 3-pointer and a Rose pull-up jumper with 4:09 remaining.
It stayed that way until another Rose pull-up with 2:25 left made it 114-100. The Knicks never let it get under 10 after that.
The Knicks got a big lift from their second unit right away. In the first half, they helped turn a nine-point deficit into an eight-point lead.
Hernangomez scored 10 points during an 18-7 run that put the Knicks up 51-43. They took their biggest lead of the half in the final minute of the second quarter, 63-54, on two foul shots by Holiday. He also scored 10 points in the first half.
The third quarter opened with Kuzminskas draining a 3-pointer to put the Knicks up 12. Boston got within 78-77 with 4:38 left, but the Knicks' bench gave them another push.
Lee and Hernangomez scored four points each in an 8-2 run that gave the Knicks an 86-79 lead with 1:16 left in the third.
