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New York Knicks (8-14) at Boston Celtics (11-10)
Friday, February 3
8:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #22, Home Game #14
TV:  ESPN, CSN-NE, MSG, NBAC
TD Garden

Referees:  Monty McCutchen,  Curtis Blair,  Eric Dalen
This is the second meeting between these two division rivals (or maybe not, depending on who you listen to). They met for the first time for a wild game on Christmas Day.  In that game, the Knicks overcame an 8 point deficit in the 4th quarter to beat the Celtics 106-104. However, the Celtics didn't have Paul Pierce in that game.  Sasha Pavlovic had the honor of guarding Carmelo Anthony, who scored 37 points, 17 of which came in the 4th quarter.

With Pierce back in the lineup and playing well, hopefully Melo won't have quite as easy a time of it. Pierce always makes it a personal challenge to stop the overly hyped opponents like Carmelo Anthony.    Also making it a little more difficult for the Knicks is the fact that they played Chicago on national TV last night and had to fight to the end of a close loss.   Their starters all played heavy minutes in the game.  The Celtics had last night off and a very easy game the night before.  Another difference from the team that played on Christmas Day is the addition of Mickael Pietrus to the bench, which is a significant addition. 

While Paul Pierce insists that the Knicks and Celtics aren't a rivalry,  things certainly do get heated between these two teams when they play.   The Christmas Day game had 6 technical fouls called and that's pretty much the norm when these two teams go at it.  Expect another heated and hard fought battle in this game as well.