Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis Reacts to Facing Knicks in Postseason

Apr 8, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) looks for an opening against New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | John Jones-Imagn Images

The Boston Celtics will host the New York Knicks for the start of Game 1 of the second-round playoff on Monday. The Celtics will look to continue their domination over the Knicks, especially this season.

Boston easily handled New York this season, but the Celtics cannot rely on their past success in this playoff series.

Thighs could and should be different; nonetheless, the Celtics are expected and should make it past this round and earn their fourth consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

Boston will be ready for this series, including their star big man, Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis spoke about playing against his former team, the team that drafted him.

He said he was looking forward to playing in the first arena that he had called him.

“I just always love playing there. Honestly, I love playing there on the road. My first couple of games were pretty crazy there, with getting booed and stuff,” Porzingis said.

“But now the time has passed and it’s not as recent anymore. I’ve also changed a couple of teams from that perspective it’s just whatever, but I love playing there honestly.”

Kristaps Porzingis on returning to Madison Square Garden:

“I love playing there, honestly.”

(Q: @RealBobManning) pic.twitter.com/9JrjZcLlDM

— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) May 3, 2025

The Knicks drafted Porzingis with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He was not a popular pick by New Yorkers at the start, but he quickly turned himself into a fan favorite due to his stellar play right out of the gate as a rookie.

The 29-year-old spent three-plus years in New York. After suffering a torn ACL in the 2018-19 season, Porzingis met with the team in Jan. 2019 and asked for a trade. The Knicks granted his wishes and traded him to the Dallas Mavericks alongside Trey Burke, Courtney Lee, and Tim Hardaway Jr. in exchange for DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews, Dennis Smith Jr., an unprotected 2021 first-round draft pick, and an additional top-ten protected 2023 first-round draft pick.

Since then, Porzingis has been with the Washington Wizards before the Celtics took a big swing and traded one of their fan favorites, Marcus Smart, for Porzingis.

So far, it has paid off, and Porzingis will look for some revenge on his former team while he does his part to lead the Celtics to yet another title.

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