The Boston Celtics kick off their season against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
The Boston Celtics will be hoping to return to relevancy after suffering a disappointing first-round exit in the playoffs last season. Brad Stevens has been moved on from the coaching chair to a management role, Kemba Walker, Tristan Thompson and Evan Fournier were all traded away while Al Horford and Enes Kanter join the team. This team is still built around the core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart, but we should keep an eye on Dennis Schroder who will surely have a chip on his shoulder after signing for just $5.9M for one year.
Meanwhile, the New York Knicks have their goals set on returning to the playoffs after falling short against the Hawks in the first round last season. Julius Randle was sensational for the Knicks until the playoffs where he went cold, RJ Barrett will be looking to build on last season, Kemba Walker should fit in nicely with his new team while Evan Fournier gives the Knicks another ball handler and shooter. Derrick Rose cemented himself as one of the best bench players in the league and should provide have a similar impact this season.
Looking at the betting trends, the Celtics are 2-5 ATS in their last seven road games and 19-8-1 ATS in their last 28 games playing on three or more days rest. The Knicks are 14-5 ATS in their last 19 games as a home favorite and 20-8 ATS in their last 28 games as a favorite.
Head to head, the under is 6-1 in the last seven meetings overall and the Celtics are 4-0 ATS in the last four meetings in New York.
The Celtics will be eager to start their season off with a solid road win and they looked good in winning their last two preseason games, but you should expect some growing pains with a new coach and new point guard. The Knicks won all four of their preseason games and I really like the addition of Walker at the point guard spot, so this one could go down to the wire. It’s hard to split these two teams at this stage of the season, but I’m leaning towards the Knicks to make some noise with a hard-fought win at home.