BOSTON — The Celtics mystique didn't matter last night. The 17 championship banners didn't matter. The pomp and circumstance and ceremonial tributes didn't matter, either. Neither did the parquet and raucous crowd.
In fact, Boston fans booed at halftime and became quiet in the second half. Somewhere, Red Auerbach was not smoking a victory cigar.
Nothing could inspire the Celtics against coach Mike Woodson's Knicks, who are simply the superior team.
The Knicks trampled on everything Boston last night at TD Garden, suffocating them in a 90-76 Game 3 rout, holding the sickly Celtics offense to 31 first-half points. The Knicks are one win tomorrow afternooon from sweep revenge.
BLOCK PARTY: Jason Kidd rejects a shot from the Celtics' Jeff Green in last night's 90-76 victory in Game 3 at the Garden, putting the Knicks one game away from a first-round sweep.
DUNK CITY: Carmelo Anthony dunks home two of his 26 points in last night's 90-76 Knicks rout of the Celtics at TD Garden in Game 3 of the first-round series.
With a wire-to-wire devastation of the Celtics, the Knicks took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series. No NBA team has ever recovered to win a series in that predicament.
Carmelo Anthony finished with a solid 26 points and is on the verge of his first sweep as an NBA player.
"To accomplish that would be spectacular,'' Anthony said. "It would be a dream come true. I never swept anybody. We know Game 4 is win or go home. I've been on that side of the pole plenty of times. I know that feeling. We got to be prepared for the punches they throw.''
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The Knicks and Celtics go again tomorrow on the parquet in Game 4 as the Knicks could post their first playoff sweep of the Celtics since 1951 when they won 2-0 .
The Celtics haven't cracked 80 points yet in the first three games, averaging 75 points.
"We came in here believing we can win the basketball game and we did it,'' said Anthony. "Total team effort. Everybody contributed offensively and defensively.''
"It feels good,'' added Anthony, the lone active Knick on the 2011 team swept by Boston. "Sitting here in this situation, sitting in the drivers seat. We want to close the deal and seal the deal Sunday.''
The Knicks knocked the Celtics out as Atlantic Division champions and now are primed to knock them out of the season — and maybe out of their recent Big Three era.
"Our level of intensity on defense never dropped,'' said Iman Shumpert, who had three steals. "We're playing great on defense and the ball is moving on offense."
The Knicks again got sterling point-guard play from Raymond Felton (15 points, 10 assists) and Pablo Prigioni, whose ankle looked perfect. Prigioni played feisty defense and drilled three 3-pointers in the first half as the Knicks took a 47-31 halftime lead.
"If we can sweep, it would be something special for all of us and on top of that we get a lot of rest,'' Felton said. "And Indiana and Atlanta can go to a Game 7.''
Jason Kidd (six assists, six rebounds) ended the first half by stripping Kevin Garnett, who finished with just 12 points. Paul Pierce was 2 of 10 in the first half and wound up with 17.
Celtics fans started heading to the exits after Steve Novak drilled a 3-pointer to make it 73-54 with 10:13 left — the Knicks' biggest lead to that point.
"Close out games are always tough,'' Woodson said. "I just told our guys at the end. Let's be humble. We followed the game plan and it worked.''
The only down note came when J.R. Smith got an automatic ejection for a flagrant 2 after throwing his elbow at Jason Terry, who was hounding him on defense.
But otherwise the Knicks kept their pose. "We wanted to minimize the crowd and take them out of it." Tyson Chandler said.
"I thought we did lose our spirit early on,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.
A pregame moment of silence for the Boston Marathon bombings was marred by a few fans yelling out Pierce and Garnett's names. There was another ceremony held at the end of the first quarter as the Massachusetts governor, FBI first responders, Watertown police chief, Boston police chief and medics from the nearby hospitals were honored.
The Knicks outscored the Celtics, 24-13, in the second quarter to take control. Anthony hit four straight shots in the second period, including an alley-oop from Kidd. After Felton drained a 3-pointer, the lead swelled to 47-29 with 55 seconds left in the half and it was all but over.
"We came out, we held our composure and we kept the crowd out of the game early," Kenyon Martin said.
Perhaps the final dagger came with 3:45 left in the third quarter when Shumpert pilfered the ball from Pierce and fed Anthony for a 3-pointer and a 61-44 lead. The Knicks had made it look easy in one of the toughest playoff buildings in the league.
marc.berman@nypost.com
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