Celtics Draw Knicks In First Round Of Playoffs
BOSTON (CBS) - With a loss to the Washington Wizards Monday night, paired with a Miami Heat win, the Celtics clinched the three-seed in the Eastern Conference and will meet up with the New York Knicks in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
The two will meet in their regular season finale on Wednesday, with the playoff series likely beginning Sunday April 17th at the TD Garden.
The Celtics have won all three regular season matchups so far, but all were hard fought victories. The Celtics won the first matchup in October 105-101 in Boston thanks to a Rajon Rondo triple-double, in which he had a career high 24 assists. The C's won 118-116 in New York in December on a last second Paul Pierce jumper, despite 39 points from the Knicks Amar'e Stoudemire (who hit a shot after the buzzer that did not count). The Celtics came back from a double-digit deficit to win the most recent meeting 96-86 in March to go up 3-0 in the season series.
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Pierce led the way in the three games against the Knicks, averaging 26 points and 10 rebounds per contest. Kevin Garnett averaged 22.7 points and 11.3 rebounds, while Rondo averaged 16.7 assists per game.
Shaquille O'Neal will not play in the season finale, but is expected to be ready for a playoff return.
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Two of the wins came before New York acquired All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony, who scored 22 points in the March 21st matchup.
This will be the 14th time the two franchises meet in the playoffs, with the Celtics taking seven of the first 13. The most recent pairing came back in 1990, a series the Celtics lost 3-2 after winning the first two games.
