New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics head-to-head, season stats, last 5 games and more for 2025 NBA playoffs East Semis

The New York Knicks and Boston Celtics first met in the NBA playoffs 74 years ago. The 1951 Knicks won a best-of-three series in the East Division semifinals to advance to the first NBA Finals. They lost to the Rochester Royals in seven games.

Both teams will square off again in the 2025 Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time in more than a decade.

Here we'll dig deep into this matchup and their all-time head-to-head.

New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics Head-to-Head

The Knicks and Celtics have met 498 times in the regular season, with the latter owning a huge edge with 308 wins against 190 losses. Their head-to-head matchup is more even in the playoffs, with the Celtics winning 36 of 67 playoff meetings.

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Notably, they haven't met in the playoffs since the Knicks beat them in six games in the 2013 Eastern Conference first round.

New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics Season Stats

The Celtics ranked eighth in most points per game this season (116.0 PPG). They led the league in 3-pointers made (1,457), shooting 36.8%.

Meanwhile, the Knicks averaged as many points per game as the Celtics, but they made just 1,031 3-pointers, the sixth-fewest in the league. They shot slightly better at 36.9%.

Defensively, the Celtics had the fourth-best defensive rating in the NBA at 109.4 points per 100 possessions, whereas the Knicks were No. 11 with 113.3 points allowed per 100 possessions.

New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics Last 5 Games

The Celtics haven't had much trouble getting past the Knicks recently. Since April 11, 2024, they've met five times, with the Celtics winning four times. That includes all four games this season. They've also won eight of their last nine matchups.

Here are the scores of the last five games between New York and Boston:

Celtics def. Knicks 119-117 on April 8, 2025.
Celtics def. Knicks 118-105 on Feb. 23, 2025.
Celtics def. Knicks 131-104 on Feb 8, 2025.
Celtics def. Knicks 132-109 on Oct. 22, 2024.
Knicks def. Celtics 119-108 on April 11, 2024.

New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics 2025 NBA playoffs second round schedule

Game 1 of the second-round showdown between the Knicks and the Celtics will be played on Monday. The game will be played at the TD Garden in Boston at 7:00 p.m. (ET) and broadcast on TNT.

Here's the full schedule for the series, including location, time, date, and channel:

Game 1: Monday, May 5 at Boston, 7:00 PM - TNT
Game 2: Wednesday, May 7 at Boston - TBA
Game 3: Saturday, May 10 at New York - TBA
Game 4: Monday, May 12 at New York - TBA
Game 5*: Wednesday, May 14 at Boston - TBA
Game 6*: Friday, May 16 at New York - TBA
Game 7*: Monday, May 19 at Boston - TBA

* if necessary

About the author

Ernesto Cova is a journalist at Sportskeeda with a PhD in Sports Psychology. His education helped him develop a clearer understanding of the sports world as a whole, including basketball. Ernesto has over eight years of experience in the field, working for Fadeaway World, The Inquisitr, NBA Blast, The Cold Wire and Bolavip, among others.

His favorite team is the Chicago Bulls because of the Michael Jordan era. Jordan is Ernesto's all-time favorite, as he changed the game forever. Ernesto's second favorite was Kobe Bryant because he embodied that same competitive fire and Ernesto watched him play throughout his entire career. Nowadays, Ernesto really likes Stephen Curry, who he believes to be the most influential player of the past 15 years or so.

Ernesto's favorite basketball moment was when Venezuela -- his country -- took down Canada to take home the 2015 FIBA Americas Cup.

When not watching or writing about basketball, Ernesto likes to read and is interested in photography.

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Edited by Krutik Jain