Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
BOSTON \u2014 The Knicks are David.<\/p>\n
They are the long shot. <\/p>\n
The little guy. <\/p>\n
The double-digit NCAA Tournament seed trying to punch above its weight class.<\/p>\n
Nobody is giving them a shot.<\/p>\n
The Celtics are a whopping 9.5-point favorite in Monday night\u2019s Game 1 at TD Garden, and are minus-800 to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the fourth straight season and fifth time in six years. <\/p>\n
In a recent ESPN poll of its analysts, all 11 picked the Celtics to advance, and only two of them saw the series going a full seven games. <\/p>\n
Boston swept Tom Thibodeau\u2019s team during the regular season, winning three of the four games by double figures, outclassing the Knicks for the most part.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care,\u201d Josh Hart, the most vocal Knick, said on Sunday on the eve of this Eastern Conference semifinal matchup. \u201cIf we\u2019re counted out already, then we should play with a great level of freedom. We don\u2019t really care too much what the outside world says. We\u2019re focused on how we feel internally and going about it that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith us, we don\u2019t really involve ourselves with what other people think. Same people who praise us one day kill us the other, so we\u2019re focused on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Hart, the regular season is irrelevant. <\/p>\n
It has nothing to do with the playoffs. <\/p>\n
The Knicks lost three of four games to the Pistons in the regular season, then ended their season in the opening round. <\/p>\n
Mitchell Robinson played in only one of the four contests against the Celtics, and it was the game the Knicks should\u2019ve won, losing by two in overtime after Jayson Tatum forced the extra session with a 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation.<\/p>\n
Follow The Post\u2019s coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs<\/p>\n
Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts about the series.<\/p>\n
The 7-footer makes a major difference defensively.<\/p>\n
All that matters is how Jalen Brunson and the Knicks perform starting Monday night. <\/p>\n
The Celtics\u2019 only tangible advantage is they get one extra game at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the regular season. It means nothing,\u201d Hart said. \u201cThere\u2019s bits and pieces you can take from it, but at the end of the day, the series is zero-zero. The playoffs are a different game. So, you can\u2019t think about the regular season. At the end of the day, that\u2019s the team we were weeks ago, months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks, of course, will have to be at their best to have a shot to pull off the shocker. <\/p>\n
The Celtics are expected to be at full strength for Game 1 \u2014 defensive ace Jrue Holiday wasn\u2019t listed on the injury report after missing the final three games of the first-round series victory over the Magic with a hamstring strain \u2014 and are 20-4 in the postseason the past two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cBalance is what\u2019s going to win,\u201d Tom Thibodeau said. \u201cYou can\u2019t have any mental breakdowns where you have a bad two- or three-minute stretch because of their ability to go on runs. You have to minimize that.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a major step up from the Pistons \u2014 in fact, it\u2019s a major step from the previous two postseasons, when the Knicks lost to the Heat and Pacers in the second round. <\/p>\n
The Celtics won it all a year ago with almost this exact roster. <\/p>\n
They are experienced, deep and loaded.<\/p>\n
The very best will be required of the Knicks. <\/p>\n
But they believe that they belong.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re always going in with confidence. It\u2019s idiotic to play the game if you don\u2019t go in with confidence,\u201d Hart said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t go into it to win, you shouldn\u2019t go out there. We\u2019re confident with the team we have, we\u2019re confident with the coaching staff we have. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s vice versa, it\u2019s the same with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic BOSTON \u2014 The Knicks are David. They are the long shot. The little guy. The double-digit NCAA Tournament seed trying to punch above its weight class. Nobody is giving them a shot. The Celtics are a whopping 9.5-point favorite in Monday night\u2019s Game 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":301827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-301826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301828,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301826\/revisions\/301828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}