Paul Pierce, Carmelo Anthony ready to light a match

No one’s going to forget that the better team will win the first-round playoff series between the Celtics  and Knicks, but please excuse us for going all sneaker-commercial, NBA-hype-machine on you for a few moments.

No doubt we’ll all be focused on which club executes better and how good the team defense is. But, in that our mind’s video suite is equipped with picture-in-picture, we’ll be keeping an eye, too, on the Paul Pierce -Carmelo Anthony matchup.

The teams’ leading scorers will be going head-to-head beginning Sunday, and while the Celts and Knicks will try to run their offense and find the free man, the ball will meander its way into these two players’ hands an inordinate amount of the time. Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett have and will continue to hit big shots. Chauncey Billups and Amare Stoudemire, too. But Pierce and Anthony live in the final seconds of the shot clock, when everything else has broken down and you need someone to make a play.

When Doc Rivers and Mike D’Antoni talk about getting the ball into their best player’s hands, you know to whom the coaches are referring.

“I love watching great players play, and Paul is a pleasure to watch,” C’s general manager Danny Ainge said. “Paul has had a fantastic year. He’s been our most consistent player. And Carmelo is a terrific talent and player and clutch player — and a scary player to play against.”

“I look forward to it truthfully,” he said of the mano-a-mano with Melo. “I always look for a challenge. I don’t even know what to say. I’m happy for the fact I get to guard one of the best players in the game and play in a playoff series against him.

“I feel like in this era I played against pretty much all the top wing men. This will be a very good matchup.”

To properly defend someone with the skill set of Anthony, the work must begin before he or even his team has the ball. Pierce will need to run him through picks and take a lot out of him when the Celts are on offense.

“I try to do both,” Pierce said. “I’m really going to be focused in on the defensive end of the floor.

“Nobody wants to get embarrassed. I have a lot of pride in my game, but at the same time, offensively, I want to make him work — you know, run him off screens. So both ends of the court you just want to make him work the whole series.”

Rivers knows what’s about to unfold at the 3 spot.

“It’s going to be a tough matchup for both,” he said. “Both will garner help defensively, there’s no doubt about that.”

Of Anthony’s ability in isolation, Rivers added: “He’s top three (in the league). I don’t know who one and two is, but I’m just saying top three. He may be one and may be because of his shot. He’s the best shooter of that group, whoever that is. He’s the best shooter in that group.”