BOSTON (AP) — To say the Celtics have dominated the Knicks over the past two seasons would be an understatement.
New York lost all four of its meetings with Boston this season by an average of 16.5 points per game. That came after the Celtics won four of the teams' five matchups during their 2023-24 championship season.
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Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla encourages his players during the first half in Game 4 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Orlando Magic, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau shouts at an official during the second half of Game 6 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Detroit Pistons, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) celebrates with forward OG Anunoby, center, and guard Josh Hart (3) after scoring the winning basket in a win over the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) drives to the basket against Orlando Magic guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (3) during the first half in game 5 of a first-round NBA playoff basketball series, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) drives to the basket against Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) during the first half in Game 5 of a first-round NBA playoff basketball series, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
It’s more than enough reason for the defending NBA champs to feel confident heading into their Eastern Conference semifinals pairing with the Knicks, which tips off Monday night.
Just don’t tell that to Boston, which isn’t taking anything – or anyone – for granted at this point of the season.
“This is the playoffs. So everything we did in the regular season doesn’t really mean a whole lot now,” Celtics guard Derrick White said. “Not like we get to start up 1-0. So just understand it’s the playoffs. They’re here for a reason."
A big part of the reason why Boston is on guard against New York is the play of All-Star Jalen Brunson. The recently named NBA clutch player of the year is averaging 31.5 points, 8.2 assists and four rebounds per game this postseason.
It includes a 40-point performance and what proved to be the winning 3-pointer in New York’s 116-113 Game 6 closeout win over Detroit.
“Big-time player. Seems to make all the big plays for them,” White said. “And he’s had an unbelievable year. And obviously this playoffs he’s taken it to another level. So it’s going to be a group effort to try to slow him down, and to understand that he’s a really good player, he’s going to make tough shots, but just trying to make it as difficult as we can for 48 minutes and just have a lot of different guys to try to slow him down.”
While Boston swept the season series with New York, it took a 119-117 overtime win that included late 3-pointers by Kristaps Porzingis and Jayson Tatum for the Celtics to prevail in the final regular season meeting on April 8.
Brunson believes how they learned and adjusted from the first three meetings showed up in that game. But he also knows progress isn’t enough at this point.
“I feel like we played better in that game. ... Obviously still not getting it done,” Brunson said. “Played and competed better than the first three games, so that’s something we can look at and build off of.”
Celtics guard Jrue Holiday is expected to return from a strained right hamstring in Game 1. No Celtics players were listed on Sunday’s injury report. That includes Jaylen Brown, whose been dealing with a right knee issue. For Holiday, it’s the first time he hasn’t been on the injury report since he missed the final three games of Boston’s first-round win over Orlando. Holiday averaged 10 points, 5.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds in the opening two games of the Magic series.
Though Orlando proved to be overmatched in their 4-1 series loss to Boston, one thing they were successful at was limiting the Celtics’ success from the 3-point line.
Boston connected on an NBA record for 3-pointers made (1,457) and attempted (3,955 total and 48.2 per game) during the regular season. But the Celtics averaged only 31.2 3-point attempts per game and only once hit at least 10 3-pointers in their series with the Magic.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said replicating that blueprint is the challenge for his team. He also said they don’t mind being a heavy underdog in this series.
“We always have the belief that whether it’s praise or criticism, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that really matters is what we think,” he said.
This will be his first playoff matchup for Porzingis against the team that drafted him fourth overall in 2015 before trading him to Dallas in 2019.
He has been back to Madison Square Garden several times since the trade and said he’s mostly able to play emotion-free basketball at this point against his former team.
“I love playing there on the road," Porzingis said. "My first couple of games there were pretty crazy there getting booed and stuff. But I think now the time has passed and it’s not as recent anymore and I’ve changed a couple of teams, the perspective is just whatever. ... But it’s always fun to go up against them.”
The Knicks are in the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third straight season but haven’t gone further in 25 years. Their injury-decimated team lost Game 7 at home last year to Indiana with a trip to Boston on the line and fell to Miami in 2023. The Knicks haven’t played in the East finals since losing to Indiana in 2000.
AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney and freelancer Denis Gorman contributed to this story.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla encourages his players during the first half in Game 4 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Orlando Magic, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau shouts at an official during the second half of Game 6 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Detroit Pistons, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) celebrates with forward OG Anunoby, center, and guard Josh Hart (3) after scoring the winning basket in a win over the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) drives to the basket against Orlando Magic guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (3) during the first half in game 5 of a first-round NBA playoff basketball series, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) drives to the basket against Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) during the first half in Game 5 of a first-round NBA playoff basketball series, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty on Friday called on members of the public to send any video or other evidence in the fatal shooting of Renee Good directly to her office, challenging the Trump administration's decision to leave the investigation solely to the FBI.
Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration's decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Wednesday's killing of Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
She also said that despite the Trump administration’s insistence that the officer who shot Good has complete legal immunity, that isn’t the case.
“We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” she said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”
Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn't sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.
The prosecutor's announcement came on a third day of Minneapolis protests over Good's killing and a day after federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.
Good's wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”
"On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns," Becca Good said.
“I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote. “That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.”
The reaction to the Good's shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.
On Thursday night, hundreds marched in freezing rain down one of Minneapolis’ major thoroughfares, chanting “ICE out now!” and holding signs saying, “Killer ice off our streets." And on Friday, protesters were out again demonstrating outside of a federal facility that is serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Authorities erected barricades outside the facility Friday.
City workers, meanwhile, removed makeshift barricades made of old Christmas trees and other debris that had been blocking the streets near the scene of Good's shooting. Officials said they would leave up a shrine to the 37-year-old mother of three.
The Portland shootings happened outside a hospital Thursday afternoon. Federal immigration officers shot and wounded a man and woman, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, who were inside a vehicle, and their conditions weren't immediately known. The FBI and the Oregon Department of Justice were investigating.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and the city council called on ICE to end all operations in the city until a full investigation is completed. Hundreds protested Thursday night at a local ICE building. Early Friday, Portland police reported that officers had arrested several protesters after asking the to get out of a street to allow traffic to flow.
Just as it did following Good's shooting, DHS defended the actions of the officers in Portland, saying it occurred after a Venezuelan man with alleged gang ties and who was involved in a recent shooting tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit the officers. It wasn't immediately clear if the shootings were captured on video, as Good's was.
The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.
The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.
Good's death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as protests happening in other places, including Texas, California, Detroit and Missouri.
In Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a woman held a sign that said, “Stop Trump’s Gestapo,” as hundreds of people marched to the White House. Protesters in Pflugerville, Texas, north of Austin, banged on the walls of an ICE facility. And a man in Los Angeles burned an American flag in front of federal detention center.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.
But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying videos show the self-defense argument is “garbage.”
Several bystanders captured footage of Good's killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown.
The recordings show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.
It is not clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with agents earlier. After the shooting, the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.
The federal agent who fatally shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and ICE, according to records obtained by AP.
Noem has not publicly named him, but a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Jonathan Ross.
Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle whose driver was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation. Ross was dragged and fired his Taser. A jury found the driver guilty of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.
Attempts to reach Ross, 43, at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.
Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters' shadows are cast on the street near law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
An American flag burns outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Two protesters are lit by a police light as they walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Protesters are arrested by federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters sit on a barrier that is being assembled outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters stand off against law enforcement outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Protesters chant and march during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, after she was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters confront federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino arrives as protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
A protester pours water in their eye after confronting law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
