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BOSTON — The Celtics will be at full strength Monday night for Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks.
Standout guard Jrue Holiday, who missed the final three games of Boston’s opening-round series win over the Magic due to a hamstring strain, was not listed on the injury report.
In fact, no Celtics were.
“He was able to do everything that we worked on. He is getting better every day,” coach Joe Mazzulla said on Saturday.
Holiday, a two-time NBA champion and three-time all-defensive first team selection, will likely spend large portions of this series defending Knicks star Jalen Brunson.
Brunson put up impressive numbers during the regular season against the Celtics, averaging 26.7 points, five assists and shooting 43.3 percent from 3-point range.
The Knicks, however, were swept in four games, and only the final meeting was close, a two-point victory for Boston in overtime.
Celtics All-Star wing and reigning NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown also appears healthy after dealing with a right knee impingement against the Magic.
He played in all five games against Orlando, and produced 23.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and shot 44.4 percent from 3-point range in 35.8 minutes.
Josh Hart faulted Pistons guard Tim Hardaway Jr. for not getting the call at the controversial end of Game 4 of the opening-round series in comments on his “Roommates Show” podcast with Brunson.
With the Knicks leading by one, Hart appeared to make contact with Hardaway on a 3-point attempt, but no foul was called.
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Hardaway tried to draw contact on the play.
Afterward, the officials said a foul should’ve been called.
“If he just shot the ball, who knows what could’ve happened. … But he kinda shot-faked,” Hart said. “He was being very unethical, and the whole series Detroit was on [Brunson] about foul-baiting, and then [Hardaway] decided at the most important time in Game 4, he was like ‘You know what, ah, let’s try this foul-baiting thing out,’ and it didn’t work, and now they were mad.”
Brunson added: “Tim’s going to text me and have some choice words for me, and I can’t wait for it.”
