Free NBA Pick: Celtics vs. Knicks NBA Odds
Looking for Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks free NBA picks & NBA Odds? NBA betting sees the Celtics taking on the Knicks on Thursday, January 6th at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions like this Celtics Knicks matchup.
2021 NBA Handicapping
(18-19) Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks (17-20)
Date: Thursday, January 6th
Time: 7:30 PM (ET)
Venue: Madison Square Garden New York, New York City, New York
NBA Moneyline Odds: Celtics | Knicks (Bet Now!) Moneyline is off
NBA Betting Odds: Knicks -1
NBA Betting Total: 210.5
Thursday, January 6th the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks will play for the third time this season. New York won on October 20th in an overtime thriller (138-134) while Boston evened up the series with a 114-107 victory on December 18th.
The clubs are playing a home and home series wrapping up on Saturday in Boston. New York last played on Tuesday in a winning 104-94 effort versus the Pacers. Boston is playing a back-to-back set having lost 97-99 to the Spurs on the front side Wednesday.
Boston Celtics
Is there a more perplexing team than the Celtics? Preseason most analysts thought they’d be contending with the Nets, 76ers, and Bucks for the top seeds in the East but 37 games into the season they are clinging to the 10th seed.
Through the last 10 games they are 5-5 and while they’ve dealt with health and safety protocols so too has the rest of the league. Injuries haven’t plagued them as badly as other clubs although Jaylen Brown missed a stretch with the hamstring injury.
While their core has been relatively healthy several of their counterparts have experienced a tougher path. Comparatively, the Raptors played their first game will all five core starters available for the first time this past week but are ahead of Boston in the standings.
The better comparison would be the Heat who sit in fourth and yet they’ve been decimated by protocols and injuries to their core. Likewise, each of the Nets, Bulls, Bucks, and 76ers have arguably dealt with more adversity.
So it begs the question of whether the Celtics are underachieving or if this club needs a roster shift to find a better fit of players.
Too often, it feels like the Celtics’ success relies on how well Marcus Smart plays. That’s inconceivable for a team with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as their cornerstones and a young big like Robert Williams plus vets Al Horford and Dennis Schroder in the mix.
There are nights where the Celtics look like an elite club but there are as many nights where the offense is stuck in the mud, defense is absent, or blow large leads (by 19 points twice to the Bulls and Cavaliers).
Payton Pritchard (quarantine) and Brodric Thomas (back) are both questionable for Thursday.
New York Knicks
While the Celtics search to find consistency and chemistry the Knicks are trying to rediscover the elements of what made them successful in 2021. Namely their defensive regression.
Part of that was expected after the front office went out to add offensive talents to help Julius Randle and RJ Barrett after the Knicks Cinderella run last year.
Clearly, they didn’t anticipate how far the defense would slide with the addition of Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker.
Case in point, last season the Knicks ranked fourth defensively and 22nd offensively versus this year where they rank 18th defensively and as of this posting 21st offensively.
Nerlens Noel (conditioning) is questionable for Thursday. Kemba Walker is dealing with yet another knee ailment and is out. Derrick Rose (ankle) will be re-evaluated in eight weeks.
NBA Betting Trends:
- The Celtics are 7-3 in their last 10 meetings against each other
- The Celtics are 5-4-1 ATS in the last 10 matches against the Knicks
- The over/under is 4-6 in the teams last 10 head to head matches
Free Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks NBA Prediction
The site of the “Bing Bong” game with the team who inspired the phrase via the overtime win early in the season should offer plenty of excitement at MSG but with Tatum back and a close loss the night prior let’s assume the “good version” of the Celtics shows up for this match.
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