The Celtics will face the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals after New York eliminated the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night. The series begins on Monday, May 5 with Game 2 in Boston on Wednesday, May 7. The two games in New York will be on Saturday, May 10 and Monday, May 12. May 14, 16, and 19 will be the “if necessary” games. No game times have been determined yet.
The Celtics swept the season series from the Knicks, 4-0, and had little trouble doing it. They were +16.3 against New York this season, winning two games very easily, one game by 13, and their final matchup in overtime.
The Knicks are a little different, with Mitchell Robinson available to play normal minutes for the first time, although he wasn’t a major contributor against Detroit. Still, it’s a level of rim protection that wasn’t available for the Knicks against Boston during the regular season.
New York struggled with the Pistons, with the series very nearly going the full seven games. They gave up late leads, made a lot of mistakes, and struggled at times with Detroit’s physical play. They needed a late 3 from Jalen Brunson … and a bad turnover by the Pistons … to win Game 6 and avoid a do-or-die at home.
The Knicks come into this series against Boston facing a much better version of the team they just struggled with. The Pistons played the Knicks tough with physical defense, but the Celtics defense is significantly better. The Detroit offense struggled, which wasn’t a surprise. The Celtics offense remains elite and able to cash in on plays the Pistons couldn't.
Remember, Boston still put up the same offensive efficiency numbers as the OKC Thunder, they were just masked by Orlando’s grinding slow pace.
The Celtics are going to feel like themselves again against this Knicks defense. You know that feeling after you take off a suit and put on shorts and a T-shirt? That's going to be the Celtics facing the Knicks. No longer shackled by super-versatile switching, the Celtics are going to relentlessly attack Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns and spray the ball to shooters when the help rotates over.
The Celtics took 156 3-pointers in five games against Orlando. They might hit that number in three games against the Knicks. They averaged 48.3 per game against the Knicks in the regular season and put up 61 in the season opener.
More importantly, the Celtics only averaged 10.5 turnovers against New York, which means they mostly prevented the kinds of run-outs that lead to transition baskets.
The Knicks have a potentially explosive offense, but the Celtics are well-equipped to deal with it. Jrue Holiday’s hamstring could hurt Boston’s ability to slow the Knicks down, but the Celtics have a well-established plan of who to help off of and how to keep the Knicks in their least efficient areas on the floor.
The odds are already heavily in Boston’s favor in this series, and barring anything like a major injury, I’d say most people will be picking the Celtics. They're going to look much more like themselves in this series, which is something the Knicks weren’t able to handle in the regular season.