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Edgar Chaput
New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics Prediction, NBA Odds
Both the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics are playing like Eastern Conference contenders this season. However, neither is especially close to the new top dog in town: the sensational Cleveland Cavaliers. To that point, New York was in Cleveland on Friday and was bamboozled and bewildered courtesy of a 142-105 defeat. The Celtics were in Philadelphia on Thursday to contend with the ailing 76ers and downed them 124-104.
Knicks vs. Celtics NBA Betting Odds
New York vs. Boston is synonymous with East Coast rivalry, but the truth is that the Celtics have dominated recent têtes-à-têtes. The Massachusetts ensemble has taken down the Big Apple club twice in a row and six times in the last seven meetings. There have already been two meetings this season.
The Knicks are having a solid season overall. New York is 7-3 in its last 10, which is fine, but Boston and Cleveland just keep winning, hence this contest is of special importance. Against the spread, the Knicks are not the most trustworthy outfit, having tallied a 27-28-1 record. A pair of overtime wins against clubs they were expected to squash and Friday’s disastrous outing means they’ve failed to cover thrice in a row. Of note, Josh Hart is listed as out with a knee injury.
Speaking of good teams that betters should have second thoughts about, enter the Celtics. They may be defending champions and sitting comfortably at 40-16 in the standings, but ATS they’re only 24-31-1. That said, they’ve covered the spread in their last five wins versus New York. The club is also riding a four-game straight-up run of victories, which, incidentally, began by beating the Knicks. The biggest mismatch entering Sunday’s tilt is the Knicks’s 30th ranked defence against the three-point shot (38.1 per cent) and the Celtics’ 10th-best shooting from long range (36.9 per cent).
New York Knicks
Multiple times during the ESPN broadcast of the Knicks vs Cavs game the play-by-play announcer mentioned how New York had failed to win any games this season versus conference heavyweights, most notably Cleveland. They didn’t on Friday and it wasn’t even close, losing 142-105.
The hosts finished the game with an eye-popping 60.9 per cent efficiency from the field. It helps when big men like Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley can dominate the paint – Cleveland scored 66 points from that area to New York’s 38.
Even though Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns had decent offensive nights (26 and 23 points, respectively), the team overall looked out of sorts when defending. Brunson had the best rating among the starters at minus-17! A win in Boston on Sunday won’t allow the Knicks to leapfrog the Celtics into second place, but at least it would suggest they can land a punch against the sort of team they’ll inevitably face in the playoffs.
Boston Celtics
It’s been a curious season for the Celtics. Being a title holder means everyone has put a target on your back. There have been many games Bosto let slip through their fingers, and others wins that were too close for comfort. But then the schedule puts them against the 76ers and all is well again.
Boston delivered a measure of payback for a home Christmas day loss to Philly by besting them 124-104. Here’s a fact one doesn’t read often: Payton Pritchard had a game-high 28 points. That was thanks to an 8-for-15 night from beyond the arc. In contrast, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had “quiet” 15 and 20-point nights.
Luke Kornet only tallied six points, but four were by way of two buckets that saw him surprisingly lay down the hammer with dunks.
NY
BOS