The final time the Knicks confronted the Boston Celtics within the playoffs, Jalen Brunson was a sophomore at Stevenson Excessive College in Lincolnshire, Sick.
Kristaps Porzingis was two years away from being drafted by the Knicks, whereas Jayson Tatum was three years away from his freshman season at Duke.
Al Horford, now 38 and in his 18th NBA season, had not begun the primary of two multi-year stints with the Celtics.
It was all the best way again in 2013 that the Knicks, then led by Carmelo Anthony, defeated the Celtics in six video games in a first-round playoff collection.
However Monday evening’s Sport 1 marked a long-awaited renewal of Knicks vs. Celtics, whose head-to-head playoff historical past dates again greater than seven a long time and has featured all-time greats together with Bob Cousy, Invoice Russell, Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, Larry Hen and Patrick Ewing.
“Of course, it’s going to be a big stage,” stated Porzingis, now of the Celtics, who performed for the Knicks from 2015-19. “It’s the biggest stage in the Eastern Conference there can be.”
Coming into this postseason’s second-round collection, the Celtics boasted a 36-31 file towards the Knicks within the playoffs.
Boston had gained eight of the 15 postseason collection between the groups, that are the NBA’s solely two constitution franchises that also play of their unique cities.
The Knicks gained their first three playoff collection towards the Celtics — within the East Division Semifinals in 1951 and 1952 and within the East Division Finals in 1953 — to kick off a run of 5 consecutive postseasons during which the 2 groups met.
Boston swept the Knicks in two video games within the 1954 East Division Spherical Robin and beat them, 2-1, within the 1955 East Division Semifinals. Cousy scored not less than 20 factors in all 5 video games.
A dozen years handed till the Celtics and Knicks met once more within the 1967 East Division Semifinals. At the moment, the Celtics have been in search of a ninth consecutive NBA championship, whereas the Knicks have been again within the playoffs for the primary time in eight years.
Boston gained that collection, 3-1, behind 33.5 factors per sport from Sam Jones; and 9.5 factors and 20.3 rebounds per sport from Russell.
The Celtics would eradicate the Knicks once more within the 1969 East Division Finals, however the Knicks punched again within the early Nineteen Seventies.
In 1972, the Knicks wanted solely 5 video games to defeat the Celtics within the best-of-seven Japanese Convention Finals. Frazier led the best way with 24.0 factors per sport, whereas Dave DeBusschere averaged 19.6, Invoice Bradley added 18.2 and Jerry Lucas contributed 17.2.
A rematch within the 1973 Japanese Convention Finals went the space, with Frazier scoring 25 factors within the Knicks’ 94-78 win in Boston in Sport 7. The Knicks would go on to beat the Los Angeles Lakers within the NBA Finals that yr for his or her second — and most-recent — championship.
The 1974 Japanese Convention Finals marked the third yr in a row that the Knicks and Celtics met in that spherical, with Boston profitable in 5 video games. Reed and DeBusschere performed their ultimate NBA video games in that collection.
Boston gained once more within the 1984 Japanese Convention Semifinals, with Hen averaging 30.4 factors in one other collection that went seven video games.
Hen then averaged 28.3 factors per sport in a 1988 first-round collection that the Celtics gained, 3-1.
The Knicks acquired payback in the identical spherical two years later, with Ewing’s 31.6 factors and 11.4 rebounds per sport main them to a 3-2 collection victory.
The groups wouldn’t meet within the playoffs once more for greater than 20 years.
In 2011, the battle-tested Celtics delivered a first-round sweep of a Knicks workforce that had traded a lot of its depth for a midseason acquisition of Anthony.
Anthony then led the Knicks previous the Celtics of their first-round rematch in 2013, averaging 29.2 factors per sport towards a Boston workforce that will commerce Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets lower than two months later.
And that brings the Knicks and Celtics right here.
Led by Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the second-seeded Celtics search to win their second consecutive NBA title and their nineteenth total. The third-seeded Knicks, in the meantime, goal to advance previous the second spherical for the primary time since 2000.
“We play at the best arena, so any hostile environment, we welcome,” Knicks guard Miles McBride stated earlier than Sport 1 at TD Backyard in Boston. “We love it, and we’re going to be ready.”
The Celtics gained all 4 regular-season conferences with the Knicks, enhancing their all-time head-to-head file to 308–190.
However that file doesn’t embrace the playoffs, the place the collection have been a lot nearer to even.
“It’s just going to add more to the whole thing,” Porzingis stated. “New York fans are always great. Boston fans are always super invested and there to support their team. Even between the fan bases, it’s going to be a war. … It’s fun, and it makes the rivalry even more fun.”
