Celtics first in path of King Melo & Co.

EVEN WHEN the Knicks attempt to rest players to prepare for the playoffs, they can’t avoid the injury bug that has plagued them all season.

Who expected Game 82 to be any different?

Pablo Prigioni didn’t finish Wednesday’s regular season finale after suffering a sprained right ankle — X-rays were negative — late in the first quarter of the Knicks’ 98-92 win over Atlanta at the Garden. Iman Shumpert also left the game in the fourth quarter with cramps in his right leg, and Chris Copeland completed a 33-point effort despite his left shoulder “popping out” early in the final period.

“Tough game tonight,” Mike Woodson said. “Iman was mainly cramps. Cope’s fine. He had a hell of a game. He’ll sleep good tonight on that. Pablo will be day-to-day.”

With newly crowned NBA scoring champion Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith and Jason Kidd taking the night off, Woodson initially said the Knicks (54-28) had eight available players. But he stuck with just six — leaving starting point guard Raymond Felton in his warmup suit on the bench — once Prigioni headed to the locker room after rolling his ankle on a drive to the basket with 55 seconds left in the first quarter. The 35-year-old rookie guard has started the past 18 games, but Woodson said Prigioni is questionable for Saturday’s 3 p.m. playoff opener against Boston at the Garden.

Copeland expects to play after netting a career-high with his 33 points, becoming the first Knick rookie since Bill Cartwright (1980) with consecutive 30-point games. The forward received treatment on his shoulder after taking a whack early in the fourth before returning .

“I’m good. I’ll be all right,” Copeland said. “It doesn’t feel too good right now . . . but I’m sure it will be fine by Saturday.”

James White added 20 points and Shumpert, who mostly manned the point after Prigioni’s departure, finished with 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in 38 minutes before cramping following an alley-oop pass to White with barely five minutes remaining.

“Just a bad charley horse in my thigh,” Shumpert said. “We only had six guys. It’s great that we all came out of here walking and everybody’s able to play the next game.”

Neither Anthony nor Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant played in their team’s respective season finales, meaning the Knicks’ MVP candidate finished atop the league’s scoring race for the first time in his 10-year NBA career.

Anthony sat out his second straight game to rest his bruised left shoulder for the playoffs, with his and the second-seeded Knicks’ quest for an NBA championship slated to begin Saturday against Boston at the Garden.

“I think it’s great. It’s a nice individual award, but I know Melo is thinking bigger than the scoring title,” Woodson said of Anthony, who led the league with a scoring average of 28.7 points per game. “His whole thought process this year has been to try to get to the Finals. It starts Saturday.”

Bernard King (1984-85) was the only other player in Knicks history to win a scoring title. The recently minted Hall of Famer averaged 32.9 points over 55 games in a season cut short by a knee injury.

Durant, averaging 28.1 points over 81 appearances, would have needed to score 70 points in that game to overtake Anthony, who missed 15 games to injury this season.

Tyson Chandler (neck) and Kenyon Martin (ankle) also didn’t play, but Woodson reiterated that he expects both players back for Game 1 against the Celtics. Both big men are expected to rejoin the Knicks in practice Thursday.

“The sky’s the limit, man. I think we’ve got a legitimate shot,” said Martin, adding he “definitely” will play Saturday. “I know what we have in this locker room and I know what these guys are about and what’s in these guys’ hearts.

“I think we know what we can be. We’re not afraid of anybody and we feel like we can beat anybody.”