BOSTON — There is nothing subtle about any of this, let’s be honest. Just about everyone who’s followed the NBA this year believes the Celtics should crush the Knicks in this best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series, which kicks off at TD Garden on Monday night. Vegas certainly feels that way: Boston is around a 1 to 8 favorite in most houses.

Hell, even the most fervent Knicks fans you know are having a hard time talking themselves into this.

The Celtics are the reigning champions. They won 61 games this year, finished a full 10 games clear of the Knicks in the Atlantic Division, largely on the strength of a 4-0 record against them in which three of the games were drubbings and the fourth was an OT game in which it felt like the Celtics were only quasi-interested most of the night.

The Knicks are in quite the fix, it seems.