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5 Things To Know:
1. The East’s best team cruised to a 110-94 win over a shorthanded Knicks squad on Sunday afternoon at MSG. Boston scored 34 points in the first quarter and eventually built a 27-point lead in the wire-to-wire victory. Courtney Lee scored 16 points, Kristaps Porzingis added 14, and Kyle O’Quinn grabbed nine boards off the pine.
2. On Sunday, the Knicks announced that Derrick Rose would miss the remainder of the season after an MRI of his left knee revealed a torn meniscus that will require an arthroscopy. In his first year in New York, Rose played in 64 games and averaged 18 points, 4.4 assists, and 3.8 rebounds in 32.5 minutes per outing.
3. Carmelo Anthony has missed the last two games with a sore back. On Monday afternoon, Anthony returned to practice and confirmed he will suit up for Tuesday’s contest against the Bulls at The Garden.
4. The Bulls have won four straight games, leaping to the seventh spot in the latest Eastern Conference standings. At 38-39, Chicago holds a one game lead over the Heat and trails Atlanta by one game with five contests remaining in the regular season. Jimmy Butler is behind the Bulls surge as he just captured the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, averaging 32.5 points and six assists in his last three games.
5. New York owns a 2-0 record against Chicago in the season series. In the first matchup in Chicago, the Knicks earned a 13-point win before a 104-89 home win on January 13. In that victory for New York, Anthony hit 10-of-19 shots from the floor for a team-high 23 points. Mindaugas Kuzminskas dropped 19 points off the bench in the win.