Boston Celtics vs New York Knicks
Betting Preview
Boston won all four regular season meetings against the Knicks, covering the spread in three of those. The over was 3-1 in those four contests, with the final meeting in early April going to overtime. Dating back to the start of last season, the Celtics are 8-1 straight-up, 6-2-1 against the spread in this Eastern Conference clash. Boston has opened as a 9.5-point favorite in Monday’s Game 1, with the total sitting at 212.5 points.
RELATED: NBA Playoffs: Knicks-Celtics Second Round Preview
Player Prop to Watch
We are focusing on Kristaps Porzingis’ rebounding numbers in this series. Porzingis was held to six rebounds or fewer in four of the five games against the Magic. During the regular season, New York allowed the fewest rebounds to opposing centers (13.2 per game). Porzingis played against the Knicks twice in the regular season (logging 34 and 39 minutes in those two games), and only had a total of 11 rebounds in those contests.
Karl Anthony-Towns will pull Porzingis away from the paint more often than the average center, and that will limit his defensive rebound chances. Porzingis’ rebounding total has opened at 6.5 for Monday’s Game 1, and that is a number that we’ll be looking to go “under” on throughout this series.
James Bunting has written for a number of national outlets over the last decade and is currently a sports book supervisor, in addition to analyzing the odds for WagerTalk.
