Knowing in the back of his mind that every win is precious in a race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, Celtics coach Doc Rivers leaned heavily on an eight-man rotation for the second consecutive game as the Celtics rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat the Knicks Monday Night.

Boston's coach knows he needs to limit minutes for his starters, but must weigh the risk of losing games while battling the Chicago Bulls for the top seed in the East.

Rivers wants to get that eight-man playoff rotation floor time in order to develop much-needed chemistry, but he also needs to get Celtics on the end of his bench acclimated so that he has the faith to call on them over the final 13 games.

Boston has been flat out of the gates in each of its last four games, trailing by a combined 28 points after the first quarter and staring at double-digit halftime deficits in each of their last three contests.

That's forcing Rivers' hand, not allowing him much room to experiment with the new faces.