TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Tom Thibodeau could be coaching for his job as the Knicks take on the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, one NBA analyst says.

“No. 1, Tom Thibodeau is on the hot seat,” Kendrick Perkins, who won an NBA title with the Celtics in 2008 but has become a big fan of Jalen Brunson and the Knicks, said on “First Take.” “He’s on the clock, he’s on the clock.”

He added: “This better go to seven games, I believe it will. I got Boston picked to win in seven, but I think the Knicks will push them to seven and the Knicks actually got a shot to win this series.”

Last summer, Thibodeau and the franchise agreed to a three-year extension that will keep him with the team through the 2027-28 season.

He is coming off leading the Knicks over the upstart Detroit Pistons in a physical six-game series.

Boston is 20-4 in the NBA playoffs the last two seasons, and is 9-1 against the Knicks in their last 10 games. The Celtics swept the Knicks 4-0 this season by a combined 65 points.

“Well, I think every series is different, every game is different,” Thibodeau said Sunday before the Knicks left for Boston. “So each game teaches you something. But the challenge, I think, of the playoffs, is to reset after every game. There’s a lot of emotional highs and lows. You have to navigate all that. You gotta get through that. Then you gotta reset, and you got to get ready for the next one. You take them one by one.”

Brunson, the Knicks’ captain and emotional leader, is a big supporter of Thibodeau’s and it would probably take the Knicks getting absolutely blown out in all four games for the coach to be fired.

“Individually he’s meant a lot to my career,” Brunson told reporters before the Pistons series. “I say he’s meant a decent amount to KAT with coaching KAT at. Minnesota and here. There’s a lot of players who can say they’ve definitely benefited from Tom Thibodeau in his career but I think as a team we’re always in a position where we can compete in the postseason since I’ve been here and he’s a very prepared individual.

“He’s done a lot for my career so I’m always going to support him even when he annoys me.”

Still, the odds are stacked against Thibodeau and the Knicks.

Boston has nobody on the injury report, meaning Jrue Holiday will likely match up with Brunson for much of the series. Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Jaylen Brown are all ready to go.

Knicks moneyline is +340 on FanDuel for Monday’s Game 1 versus the Celtics. Our FanDuel Sportsbook review shows you how to sign up and use their app.

The Knicks gave up 21 3-pointers a game to the Celtics during the regular season, when Jayson Tatum averaged 34 points against them.

The Orlando Magic were able to limit Boston to 31 3-point attempts per game in their series after the Celtics took 48 per game during the regular season. The Knicks hope to take a page out of Orlando’s book.

“That’s the challenge,” Thibodeau said. “They did a good job in that series, but [Boston has] a lot of weapons.”

The Knicks also need a big series from Karl-Anthony Towns, who managed just 10 points in two games against Detroit.

“They can’t have that out of him,” Perkins said. “He was guarded by Tobias Harris [the] majority of the series. Even his best two games were 22 points and 10 rebounds [on] average. That can’t happen.

“Karl-Anthony Towns needs to be 30 and 15, and he could do it. We saw it last year when he out-played [Nikola] Jokic in the semifinals in the West.

“At some point, Tom Thibodeau’s going to have to challenge him….Karl-Anthony Towns on both ends of the floor has to show up and show out and with [the] help of Tom Thibodeau putting him in position to do that.”

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter and Basketball Insider for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.