"Carmelo Anthony began his first full season in New York yesterday by saving Christmas.

The Celtics were without Paul Pierce. The Knicks were without a killer instinct. They blew a 17-point first-half lead and sweated it out until the final ticks as Anthony willed them to a season-opening 106-104 nailbiter before an amped crowd at the transformed Garden.

Anthony racked up 37 points, 17 in the fourth quarter, rescuing the Knicks when they looked headed for a disastrous holiday after falling behind by 10 to start the fourth.

"As a new team, we showed something today,'' Anthony said. "We came together as a team even when we got down and we willed our way through this win today.''

The win was bittersweet because impressive rookie guard Iman Shumpert sprained his left knee in the third quarter. The club announced he will miss 2 to 4 weeks.

Anthony sank the winning free throws with 16.4 seconds remaining to break a tie before Kevin Garnett's 14-foot potential game-tying pull-up was a brick. The Knicks held Boston to 17 fourth-quarter points and made big stops in the final minute, but fell short of making the definitive statement the Atlantic Division is now theirs.

After KG's missed shot, Garnett and ex-Celtic Bill Walker, who defended the last shot, got into a scrap, with Garnett shoving Walker's face and squeezing his hand. Both players were jawing at each other and were restrained for a half-minute.

Welcome to the new Boston-Knicks rivalry. The Celtics had won all eight meetings last season, including the first-round sweep."