Celtics Crush Rested Knicks

Rick Pitino is already planning for next season, looking for another shot at the playoffs that have eluded him in his three seasons as coach of the Boston Celtics.

After Wednesday night's season-ending 112-85 win over the New York Knicks, there wasn't so much as a hint that Pitino wouldn't return.

"This is a nice way to end the season. We will work very hard this summer and come back a better basketball team," said Pitino, who said he'll visit each player.

Boston won five of its last six games after a 10-game losing streak eliminated the Celtics from playoff contention. The last two wins were by 33 and 27 points, two of the Celtics' three biggest victory margins..

"This year, we're expected to win," Latrell Sprewell said, "so there's some pressure on us."

There wasn't much incentive to win Wednesday as New York lost for the fourth time in its last seven games. The Knicks had already clinched the third playoff berth in the Eastern Conference and an opening-round series against Toronto.

So key players were rested, including the starting backcourt of Allan Houston, who had 11 points in 29 minutes, and Charlie Ward, who was scoreless in playing just the first 10 minutes.

"A big factor is health in any playoff situation," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "We hoped to be healthy and play our best basketball at the end of the year, but it hasn't worked out that way."

The Knicks led 56-55 at halftime but managed just 11 points i the third quarter, allowing the Celtics to take an 84-67 lead into the fourth.

"We could have thrown in the towel when we lost 10 straight," said Paul Pierce, who led the Celtics with 19 points. "We lost close games this year. Next year we'll win those."

The Celtics (35-47) got 18 points from Kenny Anderson and 17 from Tony Battie.

"I hope coach Pitino stays," Anderson said. "He's good for this team."

The Knicks got 17 points from John Wallace and 15 from Patrick Ewing, who played just 22 minutes. Four substitutes played at least 25.

"We've led ourselves to believe we wait for the playoffs to start playing our game, but that can hurt us," Houston said. "We play the kind of basketball we are capable of and no one will beat us."

New York scored the first five points of the final period, cutting the lead to 84-72, but the closest the Knicks got after that was 94-82 with 5:20 remaining.

The Knicks did score the first basket of the third quarter, a 16-footer by Sprewell that gave them a 58-55 lead. But they never led after Vitaly Potapenko hit a 3-pointer and two free throws for a 60-58 edge with 9:51 left in the period.

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