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New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics NBA Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/20/21

Boston Celtics (0-0) vs. New York Knicks (0-0)
October 20, 2021 7:30 pm EDT
The Line: New York Knicks -1.5; Over/Under: 217.5
(Get latest betting odds)

The Boston Celtics and New York Knicks meet Wednesday in NBA action at Madison Square Garden. The Boston Celtics won 36 games last year and will begin the Ime Udoka coaching era. The New York Knicks are fresh off 41 wins and their first playoff appearance since the 2012-13 season.

The Boston Celtics can only hope moving Brad Stevens to the front office and making Udoka a head coach pays off for this franchise. The Celtics still have their nucleus of Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum. The Celtics brought back Al Horford, signed Dennis Schroder and made a move for Josh Richardson. If Payton Pritchard, Robert Williams III and Grant Williams are able to take that next step in their young careers, the Celtics will be cooking with serious potential. The Celtics’ depth has improved this off season, and it should take some pressure off Brown and Tatum to do everything. Of course, the health of Brown is a big question as well, as he’s battled injuries each of the last two seasons.

The New York Knicks have their core in place with RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Obi Toppin that they’ll continue to build around. Kemba Walker returns home to New York and provides a spark at point guard, while Evan Fournier slides into the shooting guard spot. Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley are there for the guard depth, and Nerlens Noel remains one of the more underrated bigs in the league. The Knicks have an interesting roster and a proven head coach in Tom Thibodeau that should once again push for a playoff spot in the East. However, there still feels like there’s a cap on just how far the Knicks can go in the postseason due to a lack of top-level talent.

The Celtics are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The Knicks are 20-8 ATS in their last 28 games as a favorite and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The under is 6-1 in Celtics last 7 road games. The under is 5-1 in Knicks last 6 overall. The Celtics are 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings in New York.

I’m not thrilled about this line because I do think the Celtics are the better team with a higher ceiling. However, the Knicks kept their team together and there seems to be more excitement in the city now. You can expect MSG to be packed after what they accomplished last season, and I expect the players to feed off that energy. We’re not being asked to lay a lot here. The Knicks won two of the three meetings against the Celtics last year. Give me the home team.

Randy Chambers's Free Pick: New York Knicks -1.5

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Randy Chambers

Randy has covered sports betting since 2014 and writes about everything from NFL to WNBA. Follow Randy Chambers on Twitter.

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