Sunday's Best

Knicks Top Celtics at Garden, 100-88

In a mildly shocking turn of events - overshadowed by the implosion of the Miami Dolphins and the toppling of UNC hoops by Boston College - the Knicks beat the Celtics yesterday at the Garden behind a career-high 31 points from Wilson Chandler. And, there are really no asterisks to this win. I don't think. The Big Three was intact, Paul Pierce went off for 30+, and the Celtics wore green. Everything was in its right place and seemed as it had during each of the Knicks eight straight losses to Boston heading into yesterday's tilt. Yet, the Knicks won the game. They beat the Celtics. Thoroughly. The Knicks won three out of the four quarters and were propelled by a 28-15 performance in the third. Weird.

Even stranger, the Knicks are now 3-2 in home games contested on New Testament's sabbath. Which means that they're better on Sunday than on other days of the week, when they're 10-17. And those three Sunday wins at the Garden came over the Celtics, the Pistons and the Jazz. Not too shabby. On top of that, the Knicks spoiled another dominant home performance on the Lord's Day by frittering away a late lead to the Mavs and falling in OT. Of course, the other blemish on the seventh day was in the first week of the season and came at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks, who have already beaten the Knicks three times. Ugly, uninspiring losses each of them. Which shows that all of these trends and whatnot are probably meaningless. And, looking at the schedule... I hope this trend is meaningless. Because the Knicks next home game scheduled for a Sunday won't take place until the playoffs or next season. All remaining Sunday tilts in the 2008-2009 regular season are on the road.

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