BOSTON -- Carmelo Anthony scored 19 of his 34 points in the first half as the New York Knicks opened a 24-point lead and coasted to their fifth straight win, 116-92 over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night. Wholesale MLB Jerseys . Tim Hardaway Jr. added 22 points, J.R. Smith 13 and Cole Aldrich had 12 with 10 rebounds in his first career start for the Knicks, who are making a charge for the Eastern Conferences eighth and final playoff spot. The victory moved the Knicks into ninth place, a half-game ahead of Detroit, which lost in Toronto on Wednesday. They are three games behind eighth-place Atlanta. Jeff Green led Boston with 27 points. Kris Humphries and Jerryd Bayless each had 15 for the Celtics, who have lost nine of 12. The Celtics were without guard Rajon Rondo, who was rested on the second of consecutive night games in his comeback from a right knee injury that ended his season last year in January. The Knicks, who led by 20 at the half and had opened a double-digit lead early in the first quarter, saw their advantage sliced to 84-75 on Greens 3-pointer with 1:12 left in the third, but Hardaways free throw gave them a 10-point edge entering the final quarter. Pablo Prigioni then made a 3 in the opening minute of the fourth and Boston never closed it back into single digits the rest of the way. New York led 68-48 at halftime. The Knicks went 9 of 10 on 3-point attempts and shot 60.5 per cent overall (26 of 43) in the opening half. Boston was just 2 of 7 on 3s. New York never trailed and opened a double-digit lead just 4 1/2 minutes into the game behind three 3-point field goals by Anthony. The Knicks shot 63.6 per cent in the opening quarter and led 36-24 after one. They didnt let up in the second, keeping their lead in double digits the entire way to halftime. They pushed it to 57-37 on Hardaways fastbreak dunk midway into the quarter and opened their biggest lead of the half 68-44 on Hardaways fadaway jumper late in the quarter. NOTES: New York coach Mike Woodson talked about his teams struggles due to injuries this season before the game but said, "Im not one to complain. Im going to keep on pushing guys to try and get over the hump and see if we can get this eighth (playoff) spot." ... It was the fourth and final meeting of the season between the teams. They split the series. ... Knicks C Tyson Chandler missed his second straight game due to "person reasons." ... New Yorks F/C Amare Stoudemire was also rested, forcing Woodson to give Aldrich the start. ... The Knicks first-half point total was the most Bostons allowed at home since 2005. jerseys from china . - Nicklas Backstrom scored the winning goal in the shootout to lead the Washington Capitals to their first win in San Jose in more than 20 years, 3-2 over the Sharks on Saturday night. Cheap Chicago Bulls Jerseys . Starlin Castro had an RBI single for Chicagos only run in a 4-1 loss to Latos and the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Denny Hamlin started his full-time career at Joe Gibbs Racing with an upset victory in an exhibition race at Daytona. Over the years, he added three more wins in races that didnt count, including a sweep this season in the buildup to the Daytona 500. But when it came to the restrictor-plate races that paid points, Hamlin came up empty time and again. Until now. Hamlin, who opened the season with two exhibition victories only to finish second in the Daytona 500, was again sitting second in the closing laps Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. But he won a drag race with leader Kevin Harvick on a restart with two laps remaining, and was out front when NASCAR froze the field because of debris from an accident. Hamlin let out a deep sigh when the yellow flag waved. "Superspeedway win," he said on his radio. "With points! With points!" "I think Ive gotten better. Ive come close. When you drive as aggressive as I drove early in my career on superspeedways, youre going to have a huge risk, huge reward," he said after the win. "I was either wrecking or finishing in the top three every single superspeedway race and was wrecking most of the time. I think this way of driving and the way Im doing things now kind of lends itself to being a little bit more consistent on these type of race tracks, and really you learn from the guys that are good at it." Hamlin became the eighth winner in 10 races this season as drivers jockey to grab the 16 spots available in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. A victory conceivably gives a driver an automatic berth, and Joe Gibbs Racing now has both Hamlin and Kyle Busch eligible for the Chase. "I wasnt ever worried, but you get a little bit more panicked when its, Win a race and youre in Chase, " he said. "You see all these guys logging wins, wins, wins, and the next thing you know theyre running out of Chase spots. Now we can be a little bit more relaxed." The win came at the track where Hamlin made a brief return last year -- he ran just 23 laps before turning his car over to Brian Vickers -- after missing four races with a broken back. Hamlins return to the car briefly built some momentum for the No. 11 team, but as his back continued to ache, the season fell apart in late summer and it took until the season finale for Hamlin to score his first win of the year. He also missed the Chase for the first time in his career. It didnt appear that Hamlin had enough to beat Harvick, already a two-time winner this season, until the final restart. Harvick didnt get the help he needed from behind, was hung out without any drafting partners, and Hamlin pulled out to a comfortable lead. "We were in a good spot there at the end, and what you would want to put yourself in a position to win," Harvick said. "Our line just never formed up." As Hamlin pulled away, an accident deep in the pack scattered debrris, and NASCAR was forced to throw the caution when a bumper was seen laying on the surface. Cheap Russia Soccer Jerseys. The yellow prevented Greg Biffle, who led five times for a race-high 58 laps, from pulling out of line in an attempt to grab the victory away from Hamlin. "I just didnt want to pass too early. I was going to be the lone soldier on the outside lane," Biffle said. "So I was just waiting. I was setting up to go by him but just never had the chance." Clint Bowyer finished third and was followed by Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Brian Vickers as Toyota took the victory and three of the top four spots. AJ Allmendinger finished fifth in a Chevrolet, followed by Paul Menard and then Harvick, who faded to seventh. Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top 10. Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished a disappointing 26th despite leading three times for 26 laps, second most in the race. Danica Patrick led two times for six laps, and the crowd roared its approval when she drove to the front early in the race. She finished 22nd. "It was nice to lead laps," she said. "It was a fast, fast car so well be happy to take this one to Daytona." It was a rough day for Brad Keselowski, a two-time Talladega winner, who darted to the lead on Lap 14 but appeared to not have cleared Patrick before squeezing in front of her car. She tapped the back of Keselowskis car, sending him for a spin through the grass that caused enough damage to drop him six laps off the pace. "We werent clear enough to make that," crew chief Paul Wolfe told his driver. "Ill just call it at that: We werent clear enough to make that move." Keselowski raced in the heart of the pack after the first incident in an attempt to get his laps back under caution periods. But he was heavily criticized for triggering a 14-car accident with 51 laps remaining. The accident began when Keselowski spun in front of Trevor Bayne, and among those collected were Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. "Brad made a pretty bold move early, a mind-boggling move, in going in front of Danica and spun out in front of the field and got away with it," Kenseth said. "This time we werent so lucky. He was driving really, really, really aggressively to try to get back up there. "If it was the other way around and it was anybody else except for him, wed all be getting lectured." Gordon also chastised Keselowski. "I had seen him for several laps driving over his head being pretty aggressive," Gordon said. "I knew he was laps down, but he wasnt doing anybody any favours, nor himself." Keselowski took the blame for the late accident. "I just spun out in front of the whole field," he said. "I dont know why, if I just busted my butt on my own or lost a tire, but I feel bad for everyone that got torn up." cheap jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '