True to form, the Celtics weren’t exactly ready to play along with the hype heading into Wednesday’s game with the red-hot Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
“It’s a rivalry?” Paul Pierce asked in mock surprise Tuesday afternoon before the Celtics practiced. “Man, you let me know all the new stuff. I didn’t know we had a rivalry going.”
Yes, but the Knicks have won eight straight games and 13 of 14, the Celtics have won 10 straight and, you know, Boston-New York?
“If that’s what y’all want it to be, if it’s going to sell more tickets and get more viewers, I guess so,” Pierce said. “Y’all make up the rivalries, we don’t, to be honest. New York is playing well. They’re in our division. It’s going to be an exciting game.”
Pierce is right. There is no rivalry. The Celtics have owned the Atlantic Division since the 2007-08 season, winning 47 of 54 division games and never finishing less than 10 games ahead of their closest competitor in the standings. They have also owned the Knicks, winning 11 of 13 contests during that span.
It’s not just recent history either.
The last time the two teams were in the playoffs in the same season was 2003-04 when the 36-46 Celtics and 39-43 Knicks both lost in the first round. You have to go all the way back to the 1992-93 season to find a year when both teams had winning records and you have to travel back to 1989-90 for the last time they met in the playoffs (the Patrick Ewing shot in Game 5 won it for the Knicks).
So, no, despite their proximity and the warm memories that Dave Cowens, Willis Reed, Bernard King and Larry Bird might evoke, there is no real rivalry between the Knicks and Celtics. Not yet anyway.
“The two teams haven’t exactly matched for a long time,” Doc Rivers said. “You know when they do it’ll be great.”
Perhaps that will be Wednesday. Whether or not a December game will have any bearing on the big picture goals the Celtics have, and it probably won’t, there is no denying that the thought of playing a nationally-televised game in the most anticipated game at MSG in years has the Celtics attention.
“Whenever the Knicks are playing well and there’s energy in the building, it’s good for everybody,” Rivers said. “I loved it as an opponent. I loved it when I was playing there. It’s the only building alive still, as far as the old buildings. It has that energy.”
Rivers also noted that he wasn’t disappointed to have something to rev his team up for another one of the 82 games on the schedule. But the Celtics professed Tuesday to having other worries. It was their first practice in Waltham in a week and that’s by necessity more than design.
“We’re doing all right,” Rivers said. “Obviously we’re winning games. I don’t think we’ve necessarily been playing great over the last couple of games. Defensively, the Charlotte game we were really good. I can see the slippage in the way we’re playing so at some point, we either start fixing it with our guys or it will come back and get us a little bit.”
Rivers wanted to practice Monday, but decided against it after observing some of his players.
“It’s a tough balance,” Rivers said. “It’s with your eyes half the time, with your feel, with your ears. There’s certain guys who are never injured who never complain about being tired, who never are tired. When you see them giving in sometimes on certain plays, especially more defensively you can see it, then you know your team’s tired.”
There’s also the matter of Shaquille O’Neal, who has missed the last two games and barely played a week and a half ago against the Nets. He didn’t practice Tuesday and is still regarded as questionable for Wednesday’s game.
“We don’t know yet,” Rivers said prior to Shaq not practicing. “We’ll see what he can do in practice. If he’s good he’ll play. If not, then we’ll probably sit him again.”
If he can’t play, Shaq’s absence may not have that big of an effect on the Celtics. They were already planning to employ Kevin Garnett and Glen Davis in the frontcourt to counter the Knicks’ small lineups, which would mean a healthy dose of Garnett and Amar’e Stoudemire, who has set a franchise record by scoring 30+ points in eight straight games. It should be a thrilling matchup with one of the game’s great defensive players playing an offensive force at the height of his powers.
Not that Garnett will need any extra motivation. “He gets up for him anyway,” Rivers said. “They get up for each other.” 
It’s not just Stoudenmire, of course. Point guard Ray Felton has been dynamic during the Knicks streak and Mike D’Antoni now has a plethora of wing shooters in Wilson, Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and even Shawne Williams who has made an astounding 10-of-14 3-pointers since cracking the rotation.  
“D’Antoni’s always run that type of system,” Pierce said. “[They] spread the court and allow for shooters to get open shots and a couple of slashers come down the lane. Definitely it makes it difficult [in terms of assignments] especially when we play a little more traditional. We’re definitely going to have our work cut out for us because we’re playing one of the better offensive teams in the league.”
And that’s all it is on this date in mid-December. It’s just two good teams with one trying to get what the other has already achieved. From a basketball standpoint, it should be a fascinating matchup of teams with diametrically opposed styles. Throw in the New York-Boston element and it’s ready-made for prime time.
Just don’t call it a rivalry. Not yet.