Perhaps it’s just gamesmanship. Or maybe it is a player honestly assessing a No. 7 seed, the Celtics, going against a No. 2 seed, the Knicks, in the NBA playoffs.
But Boston’s Kevin Garnett Friday anointed the Celtics as series underdogs while proclaiming the Knicks the better team.
“We are,” Garnett said when asked which team is the underdog in the series. “The Knicks are the better team. They’ve deserved it. They’ve earned it and rightfully so. [Carmelo Anthony] is playing unbelievable. J.R. [Smith], that whole team. They’re playing with a lot of confidence. That’s what you want going into the playoffs.”
Carmelo Anthony said he OK with Garnett calling the Knicks the favorites but said they aren’t about to overlook the Celtics.
“We’ll take it. That’s our mindset,” he said. “We’re going out there, we’ve got to have confidence, we’ve got to believe. As far as him taking an underdog role, I’ll leave that up to him. But we’re not going to underestimate these guys. We can’t. We know what they’re capable of. We’re just ready to play.”
Garnett, who spoke before Celtics practice at Columbia, also admitted “it’s difficult” to focus on basketball with the ongoing nightmare of the Boston Marathon bombing plus the aftermath that placed the great city in a lockdown yesterday. So given Boston’s state of affairs, the 3-1 regular season series edge the Knicks held, Anthony’s scoring title and the Celtics finishing 13 games behind, maybe Garnett has a point.
But regardless of who is favored, everybody involved predicts a knockdown, drag-out affair. Typical Boston vs. New York in anything.
“You think Celtics vs. Knicks, you think of a rivalry, an intense
series,” Paul Pierce said. “No matter who puts on that jersey, when you put those two teams together, that’s what you can expect.
“We really got a taste of it during the season, but … you have to elevate it times 10,” Pierce said of the intensity inherent with any playoff series, but especially a Knicks-Celtics affair. “So much is on the line. One mistake could cost you a series. One play could cost you a game. It could all be fatal in a series like this.”
Attempting to focus attention, as hard as that may be, on basketball is the goal. But Celtics players and coach Doc Rivers acknowledged the almost impossible task of trying to concentrate given the events in Boston.
“City’s crazy, man,” Garnett said. “Everybody is trying to at least focus in a little bit on obviously our game and the playoffs. But the obvious is, everybody’s worried also. I hope everybody back home … is OK and safe.”
Rivers said he got a call from one Celtics owner early yesterday asking if he was safe.
“[The owner] calls me at six. He wanted to make sure I was safe, and I was like, ‘We’re in New York.’ You would think your owner would know where you’re at,” Rivers said laughing.
Because the Celtics are here for a basketball game, they might as well make the most of it. Rivers has seen the Boston-New York rivalry from both sides.
“I played here, so I know the mindset of a New Yorker. Hearing, ‘Good luck, Doc. Hey Doc, we love Boston.’,” Rivers said. “But I know they mean the city. They ain’t meaning the Celtics. I get that 100 percent. A [hotel] worker walked in today and said, ‘I want you to know I’m a Boston fan.’ Then she turned around and said, ‘Today.’ And I love that.”
So any support the Celtics get at the Garden might only be a “Sweet Caroline” rendition. After that, Garnett, who was involved in the “Honey Nut Cheerios” escapade with Anthony in January, predicted the reception the team expects.
“Terrible,” he said. “We’re on the road. Period. In playoff time. On the road. Boston New York.”
fred.kerber@nypost.com