The New York Knicks are winning no matter who they play. Somehow, beating Boston feels special.

"Let's just be quite frank about them," Carmelo Anthony said after the Knicks cruised to a 100-85 win over the Celtics on Tuesday night. "We always want to beat Boston. New York in anything wants to beat Boston and when we do it's a great feeling."

J.R. Smith came off the bench to score 32 points, Anthony added 29 and the Knicks extended their winning streak to five games while handing the Celtics their fifth straight loss.

The win moved the Knicks into second place in the Eastern Conference, percentage points ahead of the Indiana Pacers. The Celtics, who could face the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, remained in seventh and dropped to 0-2 at home against New York despite being 24-9 there against the rest of the NBA.

"It's tough for a lot of teams to come here and win (but) we're playing for something," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said.

"They're playing for something, too, and they're a little beat up, like we are. And I just thought tonight our defense set the tone early and it was a nice flow for 48 minutes."

The Celtics, playing their second straight game without Kevin Garnett, were led by Jeff Green with 19 points and Paul Pierce with 16. But they committed 20 turnovers, while the Knicks, who average the fewest turnovers in the NBA, had just eight.

"We've got to get back to playing with more energy, forcing a lot of turnovers like we were three or four weeks ago," Pierce said, "turning the ball over less if we're going to give ourselves a chance".

Garnett is expected to miss about two weeks with inflammation in his left ankle. Starting guard Courtney Lee also sat out his second game in a row with a sprained left ankle. Starters Rajon Rondo and Jared Sullinger already are sidelined for the season.

"Kevin's not playing. I don't worry about it," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "Overall, we were pretty bad tonight. Kevin had nothing to do with that."

(China Daily 03/28/2013 page22)