Boston Celtics vs New York Knicks | Prediction & Pick

Boston Celtics vs New York Knicks -NBA Free Pick -Saturday March 21, 2011

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Boston Celtics at New York Knicks
Pointspread: Boston -1.5
Over/Under: 201.5

The Boston Celtics travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks tonight in what could easily be a preview of a first-round matchup in this year’s NBA playoffs. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. (ET) and the game will be broadcast nationally on NBA TV.

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Boston’s lead in the Eastern Conference has disappeared as it is currently tied with Chicago at 49-19 straight-up (32-34-2 against the spread). To make matters even more precarious is the fact that Miami is lurking just two games back. The Celtics are coming off an 89-85 victory over New Orleans this past Saturday as a one-point road favorite after looking horrible in a 93-77 loss to Houston as a 1 ½-point road favorite on Friday night.

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Boston was able to erase a 15-point deficit to the Hornets behind a 20-point effort by Ray Allen. He is the team’s second leading scorer behind Paul Pierce with 17.3 points a game while Pierce is averaging 18.5 points a game. Kevin Garnett is averaging a team-high nine rebounds a game and Rajon Rondo leads the NBA in assists with an average of 11.5 a game. One thing of note that bears watching for this game is that Rondo is currently listed as probable with a minor finger injury.

Boston leads the league in points allowed; giving up an average of just 91 a game and is scoring an average of 97.2 points. It is also first in the NBA in shooting percentage, hitting 48.8 percent of its shots from the floor. The Celtics are shooting 76.4 percent from the free-throw line and 36.9 percent from three-point range.

New York continues to struggle with consistency with just four wins in its last 10 games. This past Thursday the Knicks hammered Memphis 120-99 as a five-point home favorite only to turn around the following night and lose to Detroit 99-95 as 3 ½-point road favorite. Sunday’s 100-95 loss to Milwaukee as a two-point road favorite capped-off a less than stellar week. New York is now 35-34 SU (40-27-2 ATS) and a half game behind Philadelphia for sixth-place in the East.

The Knicks’ lineup is loaded with offensive firepower with Amar’e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and Chauncey Billips. They are all healthy and contributing at a high level, but this is obviously not translating to wins. Stoudemire leads the team with 26.2 points and 8.3 rebounds and Anthony is averaging 24.6 points a game since his trade from Denver. Billips has missed some time due to injury, but is averaging 19.1 points and a team-high 5.9 assists in the eight games he has started for his new team.

New York is second only to Anthony’s old team, the Nuggets in scoring with an average of 106.6 points a game, but is 28th in the league in points allowed; giving up an average of 105.8 a game. Part of the problem could be under the boards where the Knicks have one of the worst rebounding differentials against their opponents in the NBA.

Boston is 1-4 ATS in its last five road games and 3-6 ATS in its last nine games overall. The total has stayed ‘under’ in its last six games.

New York is 3-2 ATS in its last five games at home, but just 1-5 ATS in its last five games overall. The total has stayed ‘under’ in three of its last five games.

Head-to-head, the Celtics have won eight of the last 10 games SU, but the Knicks are 5-1 ATS in the last six. The total has gone ‘over’ in five of the last seven meetings. Boston squeaked out a 118-116 victory as a four-point road favorite in mid-December in the only other meeting between the two teams this season.

This time around the Celtics remain a solid pick as a 1 ½-point road favorite against a tired Knicks’ team that will be playing their fourth game in the last five days.

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