Undermanned C's beat Knicks, 99-93

NEW YORK — The visiting locker room at Madison Square Garden could not be construed as comfy or accommodating — although it could probably fetch $500 a night down here — but it was where Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett chose to watch the second half of last night’s Celtics-Knicks game. And they saw the Celtics do the same thing to the Knicks that they did when they were all on the court playing instead of spectating.
In what should be Knicks coach Isiah Thomas’ MSG swan song, the quasi-Celtics rode the hot hand of Rajon Rondo in the fourth quarter to a somewhat improbable 99-93 victory before a capacity crowd seeking free food and beverage, not to mention an actual NBA game. If they showed up to see the new Big Three, well, they simply ate.
For the second time this season, Doc Rivers sat Garnett, Pierce, and Allen, and, for the second time this season, the others rang up a win anyway.
Rondo (11 of 15) scored 7 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, sparking an 11-4 Boston run to open the period.The teams had traded big runs in the third — the Celtics one of 19-2 and the Knicks one of 13-3 — which resulted in a 75-73 New York lead after three. The third-period run gave Boston an 84-79 lead. Sam Cassell also came up big in the fourth for the second straight time, finishing with 22 points, 12 in the final frame.
The Knicks’ final push, if it can be called one, came after they had pulled to 91-88. But a free throw by Glen Davis followed by a Cassell 3-pointer made it a 7-point game in the final 80 seconds. Thomas didn’t call time, he simply let his team expire as it has 57 other times this season and all four times against the Celtics.
Nate Robinson led all scorers with 26 points. James Posey had 15 for the Celtics, all on 3-pointers.
Thomas, who has endured season-long chants of ‘‘Fire Isiah,’’ pretty much stayed glued to his seat on the bench, not calling a stop-the-bleeding timeout at any point in the game. Rivers didn’t, either; then again, his job isn’t on the line. The ‘‘Fire Isiah’’ chants crescendoed in the final minute, and then the P.A. announcer wished everyone a nice summer.
Dominic Chianese, the actor who plays Uncle Junior on ‘‘The Sopranos,’’ got through ‘‘The Star-Spangled Banner’’ without any profanity, which sort of signaled that it was going to be an unusual night at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Like, perhaps, the largest Knicks lead of the season against the Celtics? In their first three games, it was 5 points. It got to double digits in the first half as the Knicks got off a barrage of 3-pointers (8 of 17), with crowd fave Robinson connecting three times.
Fans got free food and non-alcoholic drinks to reward them on Fan Appreciation Night, but there was not a lot of appreciative noise in the building, save for the Knicks dancers, some guy who juggled and played the electric piano during a timeout, and a cameo by Masters champ Trevor Immelman, who, surprisingly, had front-row seats. How does that happen?
Scattered boos were heard when it was announced that Pierce was inactive for the game. And a cacophony of jeers was heard when it was announced that Isiah Thomas was coaching the Knicks (probably for the last time in New York). He was looking for a win to (a) avoid a broom job at the hands of the Celtics and (b) get his 24th win, which meant he could not lose more than 58 games. The team record for losses in one season is 59.
James Posey made his second start of the season in place of Pierce while Tony Allen subbed for Ray Allen and Leon Powe started for Garnett, who, unlike Pierce and Ray Allen, stayed in the locker room to watch the game. And the crypto-Celtics came out strong, making six of their first eight shots to take a 6-point lead. Posey had a pair of treys in that spurt. The lead crested at 19-12 before a late Knicks rally made it 21-20, Boston, after one.
Both coaches substituted freely, and it was Knicks reserve Robinson who erupted for all 14 of his first-half points to spark New York to its second-quarter lead. A Robinson trey with 6:37 left in the half gave New York a 41-36 lead, matching its biggest lead of the season against Boston. They didn’t lead in two of the three previous games, which they lost by an average of 23 points.
Another Robinson 3-pointer made it 53-43 with 2:16 left in the half, but Powe (4) and Kendrick Perkins (2) scored the next 6 points. A free throw by Freddie Jones with 25.9 seconds left closed the scoring, allowing New York to experience a 54-49 halftime lead over the Celtics.
Peter May can be reached at pmay@globe.com