2012 – 13 Boston Celtics season was the 67th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) . The Boston Celtics finished the regular season with a 41 – 40 won-loss record , which was the 3rd best in the Atlantic division , bringing an end to the 5-year run as Atlantic Champs and 7th best in the East . Their longest winning and losing streaks were 7 and 6 games respectively . The leading scorer was Paul Pierce , averaging 18.6 PPG . The leading rebounder was Kevin Garnett ( 7.8 RPG ) . Rajon Rondo led the team and the league in assists per-game with 11.1 despite only playing 38 games due to ACL injury . The Celtics only played 81 games as their April 16 game was cancelled in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and was not rescheduled because it would not have changed any part of the final Eastern Conference standings anyway . The Celtics would go on to lose in the first round of the playoffs to the New York Knicks in six games , marking the first time the Celtics were eliminated in the First Round of the playoffs since the 2004 – 05 season
Boston Marathon bombing
Boston Marathon bombing
2012–13 Boston Celtics season