Celtics Booed By Boston Faithful Following Loss Vs. Knicks

The Boston Celtics dropped back-to-back games for the fourth time this season and were booed by the TD Garden faithful on Thursday night.

“It is what it is. It is what it is,” Kristaps Porzingis told reporters after the 118-109 loss to the New York Knicks, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “It’s not who we are obviously. We got booed at the end for a reason. This is not the team our fans love. This wasn’t that display.”

The Celtics trailed by 21 points at the half after the Knicks scored 17 straight points in a 22-3 run over the final seven minutes of the second quarter. Boston would mount a comeback by scoring 38 points in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late.

It was just the Celtics’ fourth home loss of the season. With two games remaining in the regular season, Boston fell to 62-18, with a 13-game lead over the second-place Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference.

Boston holds homecourt advantage and No. 1 seed throughout the playoffs, but won’t know who its opponent in the first round will be until the conclusion of the Play-In Tournament to complete the seeding. The postseason begins on April 20.

“Best believe we’re going to show up when we need to,” Porzingis said. “We have a week of work now ahead of us and a couple of games to bounce back and get going on all cylinders. We know what the goal is.

“I would say there is no chance we don’t turn up as the team fans love in the first game of the playoffs.”

The Celtics are 30-3 against teams under .500 this season. Their record against teams .500 or better is 32-14. Both are the best in the league.