7:25: The Rondo-less Celtics will head to New York tonight to face the 23-10 Knicks. The C's, despite winning two in a row, are still just below .500 at 16-17. It's disappointing that the Celtics will have to play without their best player tonight, but that's the way the league works. If they hate a team(Let's admit it, the Celtics are a thorn in Stern's side. If he could take away all of their stars he would. The NBA wants Kobe and Lebron to win, not Pierce and Garnett.) they will do anything to make them lose. As FL pointed out in an earlier article, Lebron as been much more physical with refs before and was not punished. Rondo just made indirect minor contact and has been suspended for it. Anyway, Bradley and Terry will probably fill in for him. Enjoy the game and check back here after each quarter for updates.

8:13: The Celtics had a very up-and-down first quarter in New York. It started out well, with Garnett scoring the first 8 points and Boston with an 8-7 lead. But then a controversial foul on Pierce changed the course of the quarter. Pierce was T'd up for arguing, and the Knicks went on an 11-0 run to take an 18-8 lead. After Garnett came out of the game, Sullinger and Lee stepped up. The Celtics rallied and ended the quarter on a 14-3 run. After one period at MSG, the Celtics lead the Knicks, 22-21.

8:47: The second quarter didn't go exactly as planned, but it could've easily been a lot worse. The Knicks made a lot of three pointers and the Celtics, despite good play, struggled to keep up. But they wouldn't go away and have shown great fight up to this point. Despite falling behind by as much as 8 at times, the Celtics trail only by one possession. At halftime, the Celtics are facing a slim 56-53 deficit. Paul Pierce is leading the scoring with 15, followed by KG with 10 and Green with 9. Bradley hasn't had a good day, but did make a nice layup at the second quarter's buzzer. He has just 2 points on 1/5 shooting. If they get him going, they will be very dangerous in the second half.

9:40: The Celtics again had a great third quarter. They came out with good effort and easily outplayed the Knicks. The Celtics were able to outscore New York, 23-16. After three quarters at MSG, the Celtics lead 76-72. They still have a lot of basketball to play, but they can do it.

10:15: The Celtics, despite not having Rondo, have beaten the New York Knicks tonight at MSG, 102-96. It looks like the NBA's efforts to secure a Knicks victory have failed. The Celtics are just too good. Last Friday, whoever runs CG's twitter feed tweeted "before you give up on this Celtics team, remember that they will turn it around." Whoever that is was right because that night the Celtics beat the Pacers and have followed that with two great statement wins in Atlanta and New York. Paul Pierce again led the team with 23 points, behind him was KG with 19 and Green with 16. Avery Bradley had his best game of the year with 13 points on 6/11 shooting(11 on 5/6 in second half). We don't know if he's turned it completely around, but we do know that the Celtics as a team have. Stay here, USOTN and Post game coming soon.