Doc Rivers knows his Celtics will face the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, but that didn’t stop him from poking fun at them anyway at Monday’s practice.
“Obviously, they earned the Central or whatever Division we’re in,” a joking Rivers said, according to ESPN.com.
It came a day after the Knicks locked up the No. 2 seed with a win over the Pacers, assuring themselves of a first-round matchup with the No. 7 seeded Celtics when the playoffs begin on Saturday.
The teams last met in the playoffs two years ago, which resulted in a Celtics’ four-game sweep after they won the Atlantic Division by 14 games over the Knicks.
Rivers then got serious, crediting the Knicks for their success.
“They’ve had a hell of a year. You talk about Carmelo and that they’ve had a lot of injuries, too and I think [Mike Woodson’s] done an amazing job,” Rivers said. “You know going in, they are well coached and you know they have some great players.”
The Celtics won the first game between the two teams this year — the infamous Honey Nut Cheerios game — but the Knicks took the final three matchups.
“Carmelo, he is their best player. But they have a lot of good players,” Rivers said. “And they have veterans, which is rare that we go into a series where a team is older than us and has more veterans, but they do, and that always plays well in the playoffs. They are going to be a very, very difficult opponent.”
Rivers was also impressed with the Knicks’ defense which ranks seventh in points allowed this season.
“I don’t think it’s one guy. Otherwise they would have been a great defensive team all of last year, and they were not,” he said.