By Larry Fleisher
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Two weeks ago in Boston, Al Harrington and
Wilson Chandler endured nightmarish performances. Facing the
same green uniforms on their home court, it was an entirely
different story.

Harrington and Chandler combined for 61 points as the New York
Knicks ended an eight-game losing streak to the Boston Celtics
with an 100-88 victory on Sunday afternoon.

Chandler scored 20 of his career-high 31 points in the second
half as the Knicks erased a three-point halftime deficit and
cruised in the final minutes. Harrington had 20 points by the
break and hit a some key shots in the second half as the duo
combined to shoot 20-of-42 on the night.

"It was a great win," Harrington said. "We all banded together.
We had opportunities and didn't put our head down and went the
other way with it. We kept responding to the challenge."

"It feels very good," Chandler said. "We have been struggling a
little bit, so it was good to get a win. It means a lot."

The Knicks beat the Celtics for the first time since March 23,
2005 when current assistant Herb Williams coached the team.
Since then, Larry Brown, Isiah Thomas and Mike D'Antoni have
failed to beat Boston, suffering through close losses and
painful blowouts.

D'Antoni endured both in earlier trips to Boston when the Knicks
fell by nine points on November 18 and then gave up 41 points in
the first quarter while allowing the Celtics to shoot 67 percent
and put up 124 points on December 21. That game was part of New
York's recent six-game slide and it saw Harrington shoot 2-of-15
and Chandler finish 1-of-7.

"Obviously our defense in the second half was really good,"
D'Antoni said. "They shot 57 percent in the first half and then
ended with 40 percent."

The Knicks also allowed their lowest point total of the season
and closed this one out just two days after a two-point home
loss to Indiana.

"It feels good," Knicks forward David Lee said. "We have a lot
of respect for those guys. They have a great team that they put
together but for us to defend our homecourt and to win shows we
are getting better. It was a big win and we kept playing
defense."

"When you do that, good things happen," Knicks point guard Chris
Duhon said.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 31 points in this one, but his
teammates struggled in their fourth loss in six games - with all
four losses coming on the road - following a 19-game winning
streak. Ray Allen added 16 but was 0-of-9 from 3-point range
and Kevin Garnett finished with a season-low six points on
1-of-6 from the floor while Rajon Rondo scored just three on
1-of-7 shooting.

"I think teams are making adjustments," Garnett said. "We're
not a team of perfection. We do strive for that. We play
extremely hard but that team is a classic example tonight. They
have players that when they do play together and aggressively,
they make plays. That's what this league is all about."

The Celtics fell to 30-6 as they shot 40.5 percent (32-of-79).
Boston also shot just 6-of-25 from 3-point range and committed
14 turnovers.

Despite the recent losses, which started with a Christmas Day
road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston is still confident.

"I don't think it's any different," Allen said. "The adversity
that we've gone through the last two years, we've responded to
it pretty well. We've almost reveled in it."

"We have six losses," Pierce said. "The world's not coming to
an end."

In this one, the contest began to swing in favor of New York
early in the third quarter.

After the Knicks fell behind by two, Chandler scored eight
straight points - including a 3-pointer and three free throws -
as part of a 15-2 run that put New York on top, 73-62.
Harrington connected from the arc to cap the surge.

"A lot of people were struggling in the game," Chandler said.
"So me and Al started to get hot. The defense stayed the same.
My first step is quick and I decided to take it to the rim and
score."

The versatile forward - who came off the bench for the fourth
straight game - helped the Knicks close out the quarter with a
wide-open three in front of Boston's bench with 33 seconds on
the clock.

New York still needed a strong performance down the stretch to
fend off a Boston charge. Pierce hit three straight jumpers,
two foul shots and a 3-pointer that cut the Celtics' deficit to
91-86 with 3:38 remaining. But just moments later, Duhon found
Lee cutting to the basket for an emphatic dunk and the Knicks
piled on from there.

The Knicks finally began to seal it when Harrington passed out
of a double team and found a cutting Jared Jeffries with 2:31
left for a 95-86 edge.

After bad misses by Rondo and Allen, Chandler coasted in for a
layup and finished off a three-point play with 2:11 left, giving
New York a 12-point cushion.

"It bugs you when you lose a game, especially a game you think
you should win," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "But I didn't
think we should win tonight, not the way we played."

Lee finished with 14 points and 14 boards for the Knicks, who
came into the day having lost seven of eight.