Celtics Discover Second-Round Rival After Knicks-Pistons Series Finale

The Boston Celtics reaped the benefit of eliminating the Orlando Magic in five games, and recovered from their first-round series victory while also awaiting the discovery of their Eastern Conference semifinals opponent.

Meanwhile, at Little Caesars Arena, the New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons battled it out for a date against the reigning champs in Round 2. It was everything viewers expected after Detroit forced New York into a Game . Jalen Brunson showed up to compete, Cade Cunningham showed his inexperience, and in the end, Spike Lee was left celebrating with joy from afar.

The Knicks made it out with a 116-113 win over the Pistons, setting up a New York-Boston clash for a trip to the conference finals.

It’ll be the first time that the Celtics and Knicks have crossed paths in the playoffs since Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith put Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett out of their misery in 2013. That first-round series sent Doc Rivers out of Boston, urged Danny Ainge to pick up the phone and call the Brooklyn Nets, and helped make Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown the eventual co-stars of the Celtics of today.

Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns will get their chance to avenge the regular-season series disappointment that made the Knicks out to be an afterthought in the East — Boston went undefeated in four games and averaged 125 points against New York. The Knicks couldn’t even call themselves competitive, as they allowed the Celtics to shoot 50% from the field, 43.5% from 3-point range and limit their turnover total to 9.5 — those figures surpass Boston’s season averages in each category.

That’s not what the Knicks expected when the front office acquired Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets and Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the offseason.

Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, a New England native, spent three seasons as a Celtics assistant coach under Rivers. He’s since made stops at the helm with the Chicago Bulls and Timberwolves, now bringing the 67-year-old Salem State graduate back to Boston, and with another chance to reach the NBA Finals since departing the Celtics.

But judging from the way Boston performed to send Orlando packing in Round 1, it won’t be easy for Thibodeau’s Knicks — at all.

“Whatever the game calls for — I say it all the time — we can win a quarter, a game, a series in different ways, and we showed that this series,” Tatum told reporters after Boston eliminated Orlando, per CLNS Media.

Tatum added: “I’m not worried about trying to prove anybody wrong or anything like that. I understand what I’m capable of. I know what we are when we play a certain way. We’ve shown that, so it’s all about getting to that level.”

Orlando’s physicality, which led Tatum to miss his first career playoff game after the series opener, unlocked a new level of aggression and anger out of the six-time All-Star. When Tatum returned in Game 3, the 27-year-old went on a historical run and became the second Celtics player ever to score 30-plus points for three straight playoff games — Larry Bird is the only other to do so. Tatum dropped the cherry on top with a 35-point, 10-rebound closeout performance to record his 52nd playoff double-double.

The Celtics and Knicks will begin their best-of-seven duel on Monday night at TD Garden.