Given the Knicks’ run as a playoff team in four of the past five seasons, it feels a little surprising that these teams last met in the postseason in 2013. The Knicks won that first-round series, but it would be a shock if they win this one.
Boston got by Orlando in five games and looked like a defending champion in that series. The Celtics are a big step up from the young Detroit Pistons team that outplayed the Knicks for significant portion of that series.
The Knicks won all three games in Detroit in the first round to take that series in six games. It would be a major upset if they keep that going in TD Garden. As the defending champions who won 10 more games in the regular season, of course Boston enters as the favorite. Beyond that, the Celtics also won all four meetings in the regular season.
In the most recent matchup, the Celtics won by two in overtime in Madison Square Garden. The other three games were not very competitive.
What can New York do to make this is a competitive series? In the April 8 meeting, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 61 points. That would be a start.
Jayson Tatum was on fire for Boston in the first round. He averaged 31.3 points per game in four games. Throw in the expected return of Jrue Holiday after the guard missed the final three games against Orlando and Boston will be a tough out for Tom Thibodeau’s team.