Celtics to face Knicks in first postseason matchup since 2013

Two days after booking passage to the Eastern Conference semifinals the Celtics now know their opponent the New York Knicks The third-seeded Knicks defeated the No seed Detroit Pistons - on Thursday to win their first-round series in six games and set up a matchup with their longtime Atlantic Division rivals It s the first postseason meeting between the Celtics and Knicks since when New York eliminated Boston in the opening round to close out the Paul Pierce Kevin Garnett era The last time any Boston and New York teams met in the playoffs was the MLB wild-card competition between the Red Sox and Yankees All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson scored points in Event against Detroit including a go-ahead step-back -pointer with seconds remaining The final five games of that series all were decided by six points or fewer The Knicks trailed late in Thursday s clincher but closed the meeting with an - run Related Articles Why new assessment on Celtics offseason exchange interest shouldn t surprise Celtics biggest question ahead of East semifinals Jrue Holiday s physical condition Celtics Jrue Holiday wins NBA Sportsmanship Award in landslide Celtics playoff schedule Dates set for Eastern Conference semifinals Three takeaways from Celtics gritty first-round win over Magic After swinging blockbuster trades for Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges last offseason the Knicks compiled the NBA s fifth-best regular-season record - while boasting one of the league s top offenses fifth in offensive rating They struggled mightily against the Celtics however dropping all four matchups by an average of points Boston opened its season with a - rout over New York tying the single-game NBA record for made threes in the process then won - at Madison Square Garden on Feb and - at TD Garden on Feb Only the teams final competition was close with the Celtics winning - in overtime at MSG in the final week of the regular season The Celtics were without starting center Kristaps Porzingis in the first two contests and Jaylen Brown was limited in the final encounter playing just minutes and sitting out the fourth quarter and OT Starting guard Jrue Holiday also sat out the Feb win Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla downplayed the significance of the season sweep I mean it means nothing Mazzulla reported after the OT win on April If anything it s more dangerous for us There s so much that demands to happen before that and if you don t handle what you ve done against someone else then that can truly be more detrimental to you psychologically So it all depends on how we continue to get better as a band The defending champion Celtics earned the No seed in the Eastern Conference and won their first-round series against the Orlando Magic in five games Games and of the East semifinals will be next Monday and Wednesday at TD Garden The Knicks will host Games and next Saturday and the following Monday