The Boston Celtics will be looking to remain unbeaten against the visiting New York Knicks this season when the teams meet in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Monday night.
The Knicks lost each of their four regular-season games against the Celtics — and the first three losses came by at least 13 points. Boston also beat New York 119-117 in overtime April 8.
“Obviously, (we have to) play better than we did (against them) throughout the regular season,” said Knicks guard Jalen Brunson. “Be better, ready to do it from the jump, knowing it’s going to be a game of runs, knowing that they’re capable of doing a lot of great things.
“I feel like we played better in that (fourth) game. We adjusted from the first three times we played them, obviously still not getting it done, but definitely played better and competed better than the first three games. So that’s something we can look at and build off of.”
Six-time All-Star Jayson Tatum averaged 33.5 points on 53.5 percent shooting — 47.8 percent from 3-point territory — in the four regular-season games as Boston averaged 125 points per game against third-seeded New York, which advanced by beating Detroit in six games during the first round.
OG Anunoby could draw the assignment of guarding Tatum in this series. Anunoby helped hold Detroit’s Cade Cunningham to 42.6 percent shooting from the field (17.9 percent from 3-point territory) in the first round. Cunningham averaged more than 30 points per game against the Knicks during the regular season, when he shot better than 50 percent overall and from beyond the 3-point arc.
Second-seeded Boston needed five games to beat Orlando in the first round. Jrue Holiday missed the final three games of that series with a tight right hamstring, but did participate in Saturday’s practice. Boston coach Joe Mazzulla remained vague about Holiday’s availability for Game 1.
“He was able to work on everything he wanted to work on,” Mazzulla said. “He’s getting better every day.”
This is the first time the Celtics and Knicks have met in a playoff series since 2013. Boston has won four of the seven playoff series between the two franchises.
“To me, the series is at 0-0,” Mazzulla said. “It comes down to executing simple details over and over again with a high level of physicality and attention to detail. At the same time, you have to have no expectations. It’s the playoffs. It’s two teams fighting for something.
“There’s no one way that a series is supposed to go. As you’ve seen over the course of history and as you’ve seen in the playoffs now, at the end of the day, have no expectations about how it’s supposed to go. Just be ready to give the environment what it needs and do whatever it takes to win for however long it takes to win.”
The Celtics are trying to reach the Eastern Conference finals for the fourth consecutive season. The Knicks haven’t been to the conference finals since 2000.
“We just gotta go out there, execute and stay disciplined,” said New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns. “If we execute the way I know we can, play basketball the way I know we can, we’ll give ourselves a chance every night.”
