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The New York Knicks will play the Boston Celtics on Saturday night in an Eastern Conference matchup. It's time to continue our NBA odds series with a Knicks-Celtics prediction and pick.
The Knicks and Celtics will play on Saturday night in a classic NBA matchup. Boston comes into this one having lost four of their last five, so they will desperately hunt a win Saturday night. New York also needs a win badly having lost seven of their last ten games. The Celtics come into Saturday as the No. 10 seed in the East, while the Knicks are the No. 12 seed. Both of these teams need to start racking up the wins if they want to secure a playoff spot rather than competing for a spot in the play-in. The Celtics come into Saturday's matchup as solid home favorites over the Knicks.
Here is how FanDuel has set the Knicks-Celtics odds for this Saturday NBA matchup.
NBA Odds: Knicks-Celtics Odds
New York Knicks +4.5 (-110)
Boston Celtics +4.5 (-110)
Over 210.5 (-110)
Under 210.5 (-110)
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Why The Knicks Could Cover The Spread
New York comes into this spot with a slight rest edge after being off on Friday night. The Knicks snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night. Julius Randle and company continue to struggle this season, however. Randle is shooting just 42% from the floor and committing 3.4 turnovers per game. The Knicks have not yet found a rhythm this season as not all of their offseason additions have been able to make a positive impact on the court to this point. With Boston missing a couple of players and having played last night, the Knicks may be in a good spot for a cover and a win on Saturday.
New York is 8-6 on the road this season and 12-17 against the spread overall. The Knicks are 4-3 as road dogs so far this season.
Why The Celtics Could Cover The Spread
Boston may be without Al Horford and Grant Williams again on Saturday after they entered health and safety protocols on Friday. Jabari Parker was already in the protocols, so if no one returns the Celtics are down three frontcourt players on top of being on the back-to-back. This may be a tough spot to cover and win for the Boston as the shorthanded team who played a hard-fought game on Friday night. The Golden State Warriors outlasted the Celtics 111-107 on Friday in what was a 48-minute fight. Boston may face a challenge on Saturday with a shorthanded roster and a quick turnaround.
The Celtics are 7-5 at home this season and 14-13-2 against the spread. Boston is 4-6 vs. the spread as a home favorite this season, and 9-7 against the spread as a favorite overall.
Final Knicks-Celtics Prediction & Pick
This is a tough one as neither of these teams comes into this one playing great basketball. Boston is probably the better team, but they are likely missing a key player in Horford and they played last night. Take the Knicks and points, unless for some reason Horford is able to play. The Celtics are the better team but being shorthanded in the middle on a back-to-back seems like a difficult spot to expect a win and a cover from Boston.
Final Knicks-Celtics prediction & pick: Knicks +4.5 (-110)
