DHL Dan CCXCIV - Careful What You Wish For

As the Boston Celtics begin their playoff run this year, Shank's hoping they meet up with the team that defeated them last season in the second round:

Here’s hoping for a Celtics-Knicks rematch in the playoffs, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while waiting for the Celtics in the NBA playoffs again …

The drudgery is almost over. The regular season ends Sunday night at the Garden against Orlando, and the playoffs start next weekend.

Thursday’s regular-season game No. 80, a steel-cage-match loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, was a nice tease for what’s ahead. It felt like the first playoff game of 2026. The first half had 10 lead changes and seven ties. Playing without Jaylen Brown (Achilles tendinitis), the Celtics fell behind by 13 in the second half, rallied to take a 7-point lead, then lost by 6 when Josh Hart went all Andrew Toney in the final seconds.

Wouldn’t it be great if the Celtics and Knicks meet in the second round of the playoffs just like last year? These original league franchises have played one another 575 times, including 15 playoff series, and it was the Knicks who ended Boston’s season last May in six unsightly games, after Jayson Tatum blew out his Achilles in Game 4 at MSG.

No, it wouldn't be great - if the Celtics continue to chuck up dozens and dozens of three point shots, they'll losego cold for a few games like they did last year and lose the series again.