Point guard Raymond Felton promises the Knicks are ready for the Celtics, declaring that in tonight’s megawatt showdown at Madison Square Garden, the boys from Boston can expect to find themselves “in a dogfight.”
The blazing-hot Knicks will welcome the even hotter Celtics to a sold-out MSG in one of the most anticipated Knicks games in years. The Knicks have won eight straight and 13 of 14, including Sunday’s dazzling victory over Carmelo Anthony’s Nuggets. The Celtics, meanwhile, have won 10 in a row, reside on top of the Eastern Conference with a 19-4 record and boast four potential Hall of Famers, plus All-Star Rajon Rondo.
The Celtics have beaten the Heat twice this season and the Bulls twice — two of the East’s best teams — and now put their streak on the line against the surging 16-9 Knicks, who trail them by four games in the Atlantic Division.
“I hope they’re going to be ready to play because we’re going to be ready to play,” Felton said yesterday. “We’re where we want to be, and we’re going to continue to get better. But they’re going to be in a dogfight [tonight], they can believe that.”
A feisty Felton insisted that he does not understand questions about how close the Knicks are to joining the league’s elite.
“I’m fine with where we’re at right now: We’re playing great basketball, we’re 8-0,” he said. “So I don’t understand how those extra questions are about, ‘Are we there yet?’ We’re doing better than any other team in this league right now.
“I’m satisfied with where we’re at, but we’re not satisfied because we want to continue to get better.”
The Knicks’ next two opponents can challenge their claim to being the hottest team in the NBA. The Celtics have not lost in over three weeks, and the Heat has won nine straight. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh visit the Garden Friday, another daunting opponent.
Tonight, though, it’s Boston, the team Amar’e Stoudemire called “hands down” the one to beat in the East. The Celtics have four possible Hall of Famers in Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Shaquille O’Neal (questionable for tonight’s game because of a calf injury) plus Rondo, the superb floor general who demolished the Knicks in Boston’s win on Oct. 29, putting up 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Oh, and 24 assists.
“We are a different team for sure,” said Danilo Gallinari, who was 0-for-6 in that game. “We are not the same team that we were in the beginning.”
Still, the Knicks know how difficult it will be to win tonight. Felton gushed about the Celtics, calling them “a great team.”
And coach Mike D’Antoni admitted, “This is probably the best team or playing the best of anybody in the league right now. . . . This will be hard.”
The Celtics enter the game tied with the Heat for the league’s top defense, surrendering just 91 points per game, and the Knicks’ offense (108.5 ppg) leads the league.
Though Knicks-Celtics games the past few years have been heated at times, Boston has taken seven of the past nine and been one of the sport’s elite teams while the Knicks have been among the dregs.
“It’s a rivalry?” Pierce said to ESPNBoston.com yesterday. “I didn’t know we had a rivalry going.”
“We’ve got to make our mark first before we start any rivalries,” said Stoudemire, who is going for his ninth straight 30-point game after eclipsing the franchise record in that category Sunday. “We’re really just getting started, starting to regain some respect here as a team. We’ve got no room to start rivalries right now.”
Added D’Antoni, “We haven’t done anything yet. We’ll wait till we do something and wait till we threaten them. I don’t think they’re taking a whole lot of threat, this team is. We’re not there yet, but that would be our goal, to be that.”