The New York Knicks approached the second half of Sunday’s game in Boston as a team that desperately wanted the week of rest that would come with a series sweep.

But after a ferocious comeback by the Knicks to tie and take the lead, the Celtics played the final few minutes and overtime like a squad not ready to pack up and go home yet.

The result was a 97-90 win for Boston in Game 4 that will send the series back to New York for Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. Jason Kidd finished Game 4 with nine rebounds and a pair of assists and aided immensely on defense in 37 minutes of play, but credited the Celtics with playing hard to keep their season alive.

“They’ve showed it the whole series, that they’re going to fight,” he said. “Those are a bunch of fighters, guys that don’t quit. They’re going to continue to keep playing until it’s over. We knew that coming into the series.”

The Knicks fell behind big early and trailed by 19 at halftime and 20 in the early stages of the third quarter but rallied back on the strength of an outstanding third quarter, in which they outscored the Celtics 30-14. Thanks to that third quarter surge, the Knicks were down by just three entering the fourth and were able to tie the game midway through the quarter.

“We’re a veteran ball club, so no one panicked,” J-Kidd said. “We just had to find a way to work the game and put ourselves in a position to win on the road. We did that. We had a great opportunity. We just couldn’t close the door.”

New York even took the lead when Raymond Felton, who scored 18 of his 27 in the second half, drilled a mid-range jumper with 1:18 remaining in the game. It was the Knicks’ first lead of the afternoon, but would be short-lived. Kevin Garnett followed with a jumper that tied it up with 1:07 to go and both teams missed open looks in the final minute, sending the game to overtime.


J-Kidd’s former teammate Jason Terry hurt the Knicks in overtime on Sunday (Getty Images).

The struggle to hit shots continued into overtime for New York and the Knicks were undone by J-Kidd’s former Dallas teammate, Jason Terry, who gave Boston the lead for good with a trey.

“They made shots. They had some great looks,” Jason said. “We, once again, when we got down three, we had to shoot some threes there at the end. But the big thing is, nobody quit, guys kept playing and we found ourselves in a ball game that we could’ve won.”

Terry went on to score the final six points in the game to push the Celtics to a season-saving win. As a former teammate, Kidd saw the determination in Terry’s eyes and knew it would be a challenge for the Knicks to overcome.

“He’s a fighter,” Kidd said. “He’s not a guy that is going to give up. I’ve seen it up close.”

Jason said after the game that while the Knicks failed to connect on many open shots, he wouldn’t discredit the Celtics fight after a well-fought game.

“It’s tough to sweep a team,” he said. “You have to give Boston a lot of credit. They’re a veteran ballclub, they’ve won a championship, so they were going to come out and give their best to try and keep the series going and they did.”

NEXT UP
The series now shifts back to New York where the Knicks will look to prove history right, as no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit.

“We’ll look at the tape, clean up some stuff and get ready for Wednesday,” Jason said. “We have a bunch of guys who are not going to quit. We’re going to play.”

One positive for the Knicks in Game 5 will be the return of J.R. Smith, who was suspended for Game 4. The Knicks felt that his presence could have spurred more offensive runs in their Game 4 loss.

“In the second quarter we had some great looks but we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” Kidd said. “Our bench, scoring-wise, we did miss J.R. in that sense.”

Wednesday’s Game 5 is scheduled for a 7 p.m. EDT tip and can be seen nationally on TNT.

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