Jeff Van Gundy winning first NBA title with Celtics would just feel wrong

DALLAS — Listen, it’s not the equivalent of Wade Boggs taking a victory lap around Yankee Stadium on a horse. That’s an image of betrayal Bostonians took about eight years to get over — until their Red Sox fell in a 3-0 series hole in the 2004 ALCS and … never mind, too soon.

But it’ll still be difficult for Knicks faithful to see (or at least imagine) Jeff Van Gundy, a main character of the Knicks’ last golden era, getting his first NBA title with the friggin’ Celtics.

Van Gundy was unceremoniously dumped by ESPN before last season — a poor decision by the network exacerbated by the drifting minds of his replacements (Doc Rivers, JJ Redick). Van Gundy joined the Celtics as a senior consultant, labeled by coach Joe Mazzulla as “a huge weapon.”

And within his first season in Boston — after spending more than 12 years with the Knicks until 2001 — Van Gundy is a win away from receiving a ring. I’m guessing it will have a shamrock on it.

Doesn’t feel right.

The Celtics still have to win, of course. They had a chance to sweep the series Friday night in Dallas and laid a leprechaun egg. A 38-point defeat in the Finals isn’t supposed to happen, but the Celtics were flat, and Dallas was inspired at home.