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NEW YORK -- Analysis from the Boston Celtics' 92-86 defeat of the New York Knicks in Game 5 of an Eastern Conference first-round series on Wednesday evening at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks lead the series 3-2:

The nitty gritty: Jeff Green scored a team-high 18 points to pace five Celtics players in double figures, including Jason Terry with 17 points (five 3-pointers) off the bench and Paul Pierce with 16 points after overcoming early struggles. Kevin Garnett finished with 16 points and a team-high 18 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-24 shooting, while Raymond Felton added 21 points, six rebounds and four assists. J.R. Smith, back after a one-game suspension for elbowing Terry in Game 3, was a nonfactor for much of the night (and maybe even a liability) as he missed his first 10 shots. Smith finished with 14 points on 3-of-14 shooting after hitting a trio of late-game triples.

Turning point: In a one-possession game midway through the third quarter, the Celtics embarked on a 16-4 run spanning into the fourth frame. Pierce and Terry hit 3-pointers late in the third as Boston stretched its lead to nine, but the Celtics opened the fourth on a 6-0 burst that culminated with a vicious one-handed flush by Green that pushed the Celtics out front 75-60 with 9:05 to go. A feverish late-game rally saw the Knicks pull within five (88-83) with 65 seconds to play, but Garnett hit a tough jumper to help fend them off.

I'm still standing: The Celtics reserves typically stand until Boston's first made basket of the game. Still standing four-plus minutes in as the Knicks built an 11-0 run, the backups settled for when Brandon Bass -- the early hero of the game for Boston -- made a free throw to break up the shutout with 7:32 to play in the first quarter. The Celtics managed to trim their deficit to two at the end of the frame, and a more inspired second quarter had them up six at halftime as the momentum swung in their favor.

Technical difficulties: Smith and Terry -- involved in the Game 3 dust-up that got Smith ejected and later suspended for Game 4 for a flagrant foul 2 elbow -- renewed pleasantries and were assessed double technicals with 6:45 to play in the game. Earlier in the game, referees initially assessed Kenyon Martin with a flagrant foul for hammering Garnett. Upon video review, it was downgraded to a personal foul.

What it means:
Well, we appear to have a series again. With their backs to the wall after losing the first three games, the Celtics responded with back-to-back wins. As Doc Rivers will certainly point out now, this is as close as a series can be after five games. Boston has to like its chances of evening things up when the series returns to Boston for Game 6 on Friday night at TD Garden. But it's still an uphill climb for the Celtics and one that will require winning in New York again on Sunday if they can force a Game 7. But Boston is playing with renewed confidence after these two wins and has put New York on its heels.

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Perhaps not wanting to add any fuel to the already raging fire that is the New York Knicks' 3-0 Eastern Conference first-round series lead over the Boston Celtics, Jason Terry did not want to discuss the elbow he absorbed from Knicks guard J.R. Smith in the fourth quarter of Friday's Game 3 loss, which put Boston's season in a stranglehold.

Terry had to be restrained by head coach Doc Rivers and teammates after the hit knocked him to the floor, and Smith was later assessed a flagrant-2 foul and ejected. "No comment," was all Terry had to say on the matter Saturday, focusing instead on how the Celtics need to show a new resolve in Sunday's do-or-die Game 4 to get themselves back into this series.

"We've just got to fight harder than what we've been doing," Terry said. "I mean, they're outworking us. You can see it on the tape. Their energy is much better than ours. Offensively, their offense is running much more fluid and smooth, and they know what they want to do. They're very determined. The only way we can deter them is to come out and fight and be aggressive, which I have no doubt in my mind that we've got fight in us."

Terry, who started in place of Brandon Bass on Friday to give the Celtics an extra ball-handler beside Avery Bradley, finished with 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting, but was as guilty as the rest of his teammates of missing open looks at the basket. While the point-blank misses have the C's a bit mystified right now, Terry vowed to shrug off the disappointment of Friday and gear up for Sunday.

"When you get your butt kicked like they've been doing to us the last week or so and you're seeing the same team every day, you're going to get tired of it, or you're going to lay down," Terry said. "I'm tired of it.

"I'm coming out with something. I'm going to come out with the heart, the passion, the energy that's needed to get a win. We have to do that collectively. One man's not going to be able to provide that. It has to be a collective unit and we've got to get it done together."

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NEW YORK -- At the tail end of a frustratingly inconsistent regular season, Boston Celtics guard Jason Terry stood confidently before reporters and said that he would be better in the postseason, that his expected performances in the playoffs were why Boston signed him to the full mid-level exception last summer.

Terry, despite a rocky 79 regular-season games, could still be confident, with career playoff averages of 16.9 points on 39.4 percent shooting from 3-point nation and 3.5 assists to fall back on.

But over the course of the Celtics' 85-78 loss in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup with the New York Knicks on Saturday, it became clear Terry hasn't yet shed his regular-season form.

Terry suffered through an 0-for-5 shooting performance (four misses beyond the arc) while going scoreless over 20 minutes of playing time in a game in which Boston desperately needed offense, particularly in the second half.

"I didn't feel like I was in a good rhythm, and it's on me to get into a good rhythm," Terry said. "I'll take a look at the film and figure out the best way to do that."

Terry has appeared in 88 playoff games during his 15-year career and this is the first time he's ever gone scoreless. In fact, it's only the eighth time he's been held below double figures in scoring output.

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Jason Terry and the Celtics couldn't keep up with LeBron James and the Heat in Miami. Is there any postseason hope for JET to soar?

Celtics guard Jason Terry has been keeping a diary for ESPNBoston.com this season. In his final regular-season entry, he looks at potential playoff opponents, talks about the LeBron dunk and facing the Heat, and explains what Celtics basketball is all about. (as told to Louise K. Cornetta)

Unfortunately we lost to Cleveland on Friday night. I didn't even see the play where Avery Bradley] bruised his collarbone. But he said he is all right, which is good because we can't afford for anyone else to go out at this point of the season. We haven't had a full lineup out on the court in a while now. We've been fortunate enough to have several games at home with a lot of practice time. We are using shootarounds as great practice. Right now it's all about being healthy.

Jeff Green has been someone who has really stepped up with all these injuries happening. He's been very aggressive and assertive. He is playing with a lot more confidence than earlier in the season, which was to be expected. We are going to need him. I'd say he is the X factor. How he goes is probably how we're going to end up going in these playoffs.

Most likely KG [Kevin Garnett] and Paul [Pierce] return on Sunday. We'd been without KG for the previous eight games. With him returning, we would get our leader back. We get a presence in the paint, which we've been lacking. We're just small out there otherwise. Getting him back means we will be able to man and patrol the paint a lot better.

We did clinch a playoff spot on Wednesday and if you are wondering if that is something we celebrated, no, not at all. Everyone in this locker room and our fans expected us to be there. There was no doubt in my mind that we would make the playoffs. Now, it's about where we're seeded. We want to finish strong and hopefully we will end up with a good seed.

But I'd say it's looking pretty likely our playoff opponent in Round 1 will be Indiana or New York. With the Pacers, I think we match up well. I think we pose a lot of problems for teams with our versatility and our multiple lineups that we can play. At the end of the day, regardless of who we play, we must play Celtics basketball. What I mean by that is defend like crazy for 48 minutes and then offensively move the ball, spread it around and be unpredictable.

New York is a similar approach but what they have is a different beast. They have a guy in Carmelo Anthony who can go for 40 or 50 points and win a series by himself. I've enjoyed the rivalry with the Knicks this season. It's special for me just because Jason Kidd and Tyson Chandler are over there. They are two guys I won a championship with.

Before we get to the playoffs, we have one more trip to Miami to play the Heat again. Anytime we face them, it's always special. For me, it's personal. Regardless of what the situation is, we could be playing a pickup game and if any of their players are over there then it's going to be intense. I look forward to it.

As for LeBron [James], I wouldn't say there has been a lot of back and forth between us. It's really, I said what I believe, which is that he can't guard me. I'm not quite sure what he said but I heard it's that I like to talk. I would say no question I do and I'm going to continue to talk, but I also back it up with my play. I got the ring and went through his team to get it in the 2011 playoffs. Winning that ring is very special and something I'll never forget. Hopefully I will have another opportunity this year.

The dunk he had on me in March, well, it' s a dunk and he's had plenty of those highlight-type dunks. To explain things, it's not like I stood there, it was unexpected. I mean, I was in a hustle type mode and chasing down the ball. Sometimes bad things happen when you chase down the ball.

Social media is amazing. I wish they would have had that when I first started playing. I guess I'm getting old because if Twitter had been big back when I dunked on Shaq in the Finals then it probably would have been a similar thing. So I'll take that one on the chin. Great play by LeBron, but I definitely look forward to seeing him again.

I want us to end the last week and a-half of the season on a confident note and healthy. We want to end it winning because winning is contagious. One game at a time once the playoffs starts. The key ingredient to us doing well in the playoffs is, I'll say it again, play great Celtics defense for 48 minutes and then offensively execute. We need to put a premium on executing from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. If we can do that and take care of the ball, then we are going to be in a position to win every single game we play.

I don't know about your bracket, but mine is doing great. I'm in the championship. I may be new here but winning brackets is old hat for me. I'm up against Jordan Crawford. He has Michigan.

I like this time of year in Boston. We have Red Sox starting and the Bruins and we are about to start the playoffs. I watched the Red Sox opening series against the Yanks. They are playing well right now. Surprisingly everyone has them picked to be in the bottom of the East but they're coming out shocking people. The Bruins just acquired a great player in Jaromir Jagr coming from Dallas. I like what they're doing.

Jagr came in a deal with Dallas and I want to mention that going back to Dallas last month was really special for me. Seeing all my friends and family that still reside in Dallas and then seeing all the people I became accustomed to seeing throughout my years there, like season-ticket holders and security guards, I loved seeing everyone. I really appreciated the standing ovation I got when I checked into the game. That meant something to me and was really great, definitely a moment I will remember.

Jason Terry has admitted that his first season with the Celtics hasn't been as smooth of a ride as he was anticipating when he signed with Boston last summer.

Through 72 games, Terry has averaged somewhat underwhelming numbers of 10.3 points and 2.5 assists on 43.8 percent shooting. But the ever-confident guard isn't letting a lukewarm regular season dampen his spirits as the postseason approaches.

Terry's new focus, much like the team's as a whole, is gearing up for another playoff run, and with only 10 games left on the schedule, he got himself off to a strong start in Friday's 118-107 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Terry posted 24 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including a 5-for-7 mark from 3-point nation, spearheading a bench effort that contributed to one of Boston's highest scoring outputs of the season.

It was a welcome show of offensive force from Terry, who's shot just over 43 percent for the month of March. It was only the fourth time this season he's eclipsed the 20-point mark in a game, and just the second time he's made at least five 3-pointers. The Celtics certainly wouldn't mind seeing more of those numbers in the near future with the postseason right around the corner.

"Well, this is the time of the year that you want to get ready for the playoffs," Terry said. "So I just told myself, be aggressive ... as long as we execute, somebody is going to get a good shot. That’s where our emphasis is at, we’re solely, we're not looking to just get one guy going. If we move the ball the way we’re capable of, somebody is going to reap the benefit, tonight it just happened to be me."

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BOSTON -- Few would have blamed Shavlik Randolph if he was the last one out of the Celtics' locker room on Friday night. After flirting with his first career double-double -- posting nine points and a career-high 13 rebounds over 22 minutes during a 118-107 triumph over the Atlanta Hawks -- Randolph could have basked in the glow of maybe his finest NBA performance with breathless reporters ready to document his high-energy outing.

Instead he was the first one gone.

You see, the Duke game was on. And Celtics coach Doc Rivers and captain Paul Pierce had the media's attention, so the 29-year-old Randolph slipped out of the locker room practically unfettered, even if he didn't quite make it out of the arena without a couple questions from reporters left a slightly different sort of breathless after chasing him to the elevators.

So what did Friday's performance mean to a player who had been out of NBA employment for three seasons before the Celtics swooped him up from the Chinese Basketball Association?

"It meant one more win for us," said a selfless Randolph. "It wouldn't have meant anything if we had lost. The most important stat for me is not rebounding -- it is, what is my plus-minus? When I go in the game, is our team plus or minus, as far as overall points, and I can care less if I have a rebound, a point. Obviously, those are things I'm going to need to do to add value to the team and help the team do that, but the Celtics brought me here to come in and give their rotation guys some rest and be able to come in and buy minutes. When I'm out there, hopefully the team can still play well and have a big man out there."

For the record, Randolph was plus-12 for the night, second only to Pierce's plus-28. Over the last four games that Kevin Garnett has been sidelined with ankle inflammation, Randolph is plus-19 when he's on the floor (and Boston is minus-26 when he's not). It's safe to say he's accomplishing his primary goal.

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A casual glance at his stat line will suggest another off night for Boston Celtics guard Jason Terry, who was 2-of-7 shooting with only five points over 21 minutes on Wednesday night in Cleveland.

But Terry came up with a couple of under-the-radar moments on the final two possessions to help the Celtics emerge with a 93-92 triumph over the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena.

Start at the defensive end, where Terry found himself isolated on Shaun Livingston in a one-point game. A little spin move near the free throw line gave Livingston some space, but Terry stayed close and got some help from Brandon Bass while forcing an errant 10-foot jumper. What's more, Terry hauled in the ball when Jordan Crawford flicked the rebound back toward the middle of the paint.

The Celtics called their last timeout to set up a final play, but might have caught two breaks. Their initial play seemed to be the familiar Paul Pierce isolation, but the floor wasn't spaced particularly well. Pierce didn't have a very good angle from the right wing, but the ball was deflected out of bounds with 2.1 seconds to play. While the refs huddled to verify the time remaining, Rivers was able to audible to put the ball in Jeff Green's hands for the final shot.

Terry has struggled to be a consistent scoring weapon this season, but he makes up for any shooting woes with the little plays that often go overlooked. To set into motion Green's buzzer-beating heroics, Terry had to set a pick on Luke Walton to allow Green the space to catch the ball at the top of the arc and drive (check out the Comcast SportsNet screenshot below):



The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Terry looks like a running back picking up a blitzing linebacker as he does all he can to hold up the 6-foot-8, 235-pound Walton. Without that screen, Green might not have had the chance to attack the basket, where he split two defenders and willed in a tough shot in traffic at the buzzer.

Lamented Cavs coach Byron Scott: "We talked about in the huddle, to just switch everything. Luke got a little too far down the floor. Wayne [Ellington] ended up having his back turned when [Terry] set the screen on Luke and basically just gave Jeff Green a great angle to the basket. So we didn’t switch it like we wanted to. You have to give [Boston] some credit. It was a good play, but we were a little lackadaisical. Luke was too far down the floor and so was Wayne. We had to be a little bit more aggressive in that instance."

Jason Terry admits he'll have a little extra adrenaline pumping on Friday night in Dallas as he returns to the American Airlines Center for the first time as a member of the Boston Celtics.

Speaking during an interview on Boston sports radio WEEI (93.7 FM), Terry talked about his homecoming, the Celtics getting ripped by coach Doc Rivers at shootaround on Friday, and his growing disdain for the Miami Heat.

As for being back in Dallas, Terry offered: "I’m going to be fired up, man. This is a big game for us, not only for me, but for our team. We dropped one in New Orleans; definitely shouldn’t have lost to them. We’ve got to get back and get things rolling.”

Asked if it will be emotional, Terry said not to expect tears, just smiles and hugs for the former teammates he won a title with. But his main priority is getting Boston back on track.

"My focus is on winning this game," said Terry. "I’m not going to get caught up in the emotional things tonight, just because I know how important it is for us to get the win tonight."

Expounding on fumbling away a double-digit lead while losing to West cellar-dweller New Orleans on Wednesday, Terry noted, "We watched a lot of film, and Doc ripped us a new one today in shootaround. So just expect us to bounce back tonight and be more efficient when we do get the lead."

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DALLAS – One day, Jason Terry’s No. 31 should hang from the American Airlines Center rafters, somewhere in the vicinity of the championship banner with his name on it.

On Friday night, a sellout crowd is expected to give the Boston Celtics’ No. 4 a standing ovation, as a man coach Rick Carlisle refers to as “Mavericks royalty” returns to the AAC for the first time since essentially being forced to leave in free agency this summer.

“I hope they give him a standing ovation,” said owner Mark Cuban, who made a difficult business decision not to match the three-year, $15.7 million deal the Celtics gave Terry, a longtime Dallas fan favorite and friend of Cuban’s. “He deserves it. He’ll be a Maverick for life. He’s part of the family.”

Life will be interrupted for the next three years. Maybe longer, if the 35-year-old Terry accomplishes his goal of playing until he’s 40.

But Cuban has made it clear that the man known as “Jet” will be welcomed back into the Mavs organization on a full-time basis once he’s done playing ball. Cuban has offered Terry a job in the Mavs’ front office, with the responsibilities to be figured out once the time’s right.

“Basketball is a short part of your life, and then there’s the rest of your life,’’ Cuban said. "Hopefully, we’ll be part of Jet’s after he retires.’’

It wasn’t a popular decision to let Steve Nash leave and trade for Terry to replace him, but Terry established himself as a local legend due to his personality and performance during his eight-year tenure with the Mavs.

Terry joined Dirk Nowitzki as the only players on the rosters of both Mavs teams that made Finals trips and played a huge role in knocking out the Miami Heat in 2011. Terry came up huge in the clutch in Games 4 and 5 after publicly doubting whether LeBron James could shut him down the whole series and then scoring 27 points in the Game 6 clincher. Nowitzki has called his former scoring sidekick, who might as well have been the championship parade marshal with the victory cigar dangling from his mouth, “one of the best clutch shooters in the game” on countless occasions.

“Jet” was also an unofficial mascot/cheerleader. A generation of Mavs fans grew up imitating the wings he made with his arms after hitting big shots, or really whenever the feeling hit him. Terry cared deeply about connecting with the fans, from waving his arms to hype up the crowd to making hundreds of appearances in the community.

“He’s one of the most beloved players I think in the history of this franchise because of his personality, his relationship with the fans and the community and he was a great player,” Carlisle said. “He was a prime-time great player in the clutch. Guys like that always distinguish themselves. It’ll be emotional, I’m sure, for him and the fans and some of us that got to know him well. But we know how good he is and we’re game planning for him, too.”

Added Nowitzki: “He meant so much to our franchise. Not only on the court, where, to me, he’s one of the best clutch shooters I ever played with, but also off the court. He was a great community man. Every other day, he was doing something, appearances left and right. He’s just a guy with a huge heart. I wish him all the best this season and hopefully he gets the ovation that he deserves.”

In the reignited LeBron James vs. Jason Terry feud, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban praised his former guard's fearlessness in stepping into the line of danger while trying to defend a dunk on Monday. From our friends at ESPN Dallas:

Terry's refusal to back down from any situation is one of the things that endeared him to Cuban and others in Dallas. Perhaps the most famous example was after the Mavs fell behind 2-1 to the Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals, with Terry being shut out by James in the fourth quarter of both losses. Terry declared the next day that he wanted to see James defend him like that for an entire seven-game series. Terry averaged 20 points per game in the next three contests and sank a clutch 28-footer over James to seal the Game 5 win, as the Mavs won the franchise's lone title.

"[Terry] has got almost carte blanche," said Cuban, who mentioned that Mavs fans should give Terry a standing ovation when the Celtics come to the American Airlines Center on Friday.

That doesn't make it a wise move for the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Terry to try to challenge the 6-foot-8, 250-pound James, does it? "I don't know what his plan was, but his plan certainly wasn't to avoid whatever it was [James] wanted to do," Cuban said. "And I give him credit for that. If he was trying to take a charge, that's one thing. If he was going straight up and down -- you can create contact and it's still not a foul -- that's a way you might stop him. If he got caught in between, that's what happens.

"At least he didn't back down. He deserves credit for that."

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CLEVELAND -- It’s fair to say LeBron James has no regrets about putting one of the dunks of the year on Boston Celtics guard and personal rival Jason Terry Monday night.

James created one of the season’s best highlights when he surprised Terry on a fastbreak and dunked over him, sending Terry to the court. Speaking before the Miami Heat took on the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday, James said he felt the play enacted some revenge on Terry for smack talk he’s directed and James and the Heat over the last several season.

“I’ve had a chance to (review) it and it was one of my better ones,” James said. “The fact that it happened to J.T. made it that much sweeter. Because we all know J.T. and he talks too much sometimes. And I’m glad it happened to him.”

The James-Terry rivalry started during the 2011 when Terry said James wouldn’t be able to guard him effectively for the entire NBA Finals when the Heat took on Terry's Dallas Mavericks. Terry finished the series strong offensively and the Mavericks won the title, 4-2.

“I'm welcoming the challenge,” Terry said in ‘11. “We're going to see if he can do it for seven games.”

Last week, Terry said he wasn’t impressed with the Heat’s then 21-game winning streak.

“(I’m) not really impressed with it or anything that they do,” Terry said.

A visit from the rival Miami Heat helped Jason Terry's season take flight. But this JET hasn't reached cruising altitude quite yet:

Jason Terry hit a big shot during Friday's win over the Hawks, but it's the baskets he prevented that helped Boston edge Atlanta in overtime:

Jason Terry, defensive stopper? It's just the latest improbability for the Celtics, a team that a bunch of "50-year-olds" have made Boston the hottest team in basketball: