Knicks Could Face Celtics

The Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics 100-77 on Sunday.  Miami has a one-game lead over the Celtics for the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference.  Sunday's game directly impacts the New York Knicks' first round opponent.The Knicks have a one-game lead on the Philadelphia 76ers for the #6 seed in the Eastern Conference.  By the way, has anybody noticed that the Knicks have rattled off seven straight wins?  Anyway, with two games remaining, the Knicks are set to face the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.

Things could potentially change though.  The Miami Heat will be on the road Monday to face the Hawks, and Wednesday to take on the Raptors.  Boston will be at Washington on Monday, and will host the Knicks on Wednesday.  It's possible that the Knicks would secure a first-round matchup against the Celtics by beating the Celtics on Wednesday.  We'll see how everything shakes out.

The question is this: Who would you rather face if you're the Knicks -- the Heat or the Celtics?  I'd rather face the Celtics.  For the record, I think the Knicks will lose to either team.  I think the better odds are against the Celtics who have not been the same team ever since they traded Kendrick Perkins.  They're 9-10 in their last 19 games.  They dealt one of their main defensive weapons to the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Oak City has been playing much better defense ever since they acquired Perkins.

The Celtics are older.  The goofy D'Antoni run and gun while not paying attention to defense style, is more likely to work against an older team like the Celtics also.  I'd rather face the Eastern Conference champs from last year instead of the Miami Heat.  The Celtics don't have Perkins, they're older, and they've been bad lately.  Those are better odds.