The Boston Celtics will be at Madison Square Garden to play a division foe in the New York Knicks. The game gets underway at 7:30 pm ET on Friday, Mar. 27 and will air on CSN-NE and MSG.
The Knicks got blown out by the Clippers 111-80 on Wednesday. Cleanthony Early was the team’s high scorer, finishing with 18. The Celtics, meanwhile, are coming off a 93-86 loss to the Heat on Wednesday. Phil Pressey accumulated 11 points, six assists, and five rebounds.
It will be a tale of two tempos, as the fast-breaking Celtics (ranked fifth in the league in possessions per game) take on the half-court-oriented Knicks (28th).
The Celtics have won two out of three against the Knicks this season, including a 115-94 blowout in their last matchup. Jonas Jerebko scored a game-high 20 points.
Oddsmakers have deemed this game an even matchup and the Over/Under (O/U) is currently unavailable. The Knicks enter the game with records of 14-58 Straight Up (SU) and 27-43-2 Against The Spread (ATS). They are 3-7 ATS over their last 10 games.
On the other side, the Celtics head into the game with records of 41-30 ATS and 31-40 SU. Most recently, Boston is 7-3 ATS over the last 10 games. The Celtics rarely make the wrong play with the ball. They have the fifth-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the league at 1.81.
Boston won the last meeting this season between these two teams, bringing its SU record in the past 10 games to 6-4. The Celtics also hold the advantage ATS with a record of 6-4. When it comes to field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers, New York held the edge in all three of these categories five times in the last 10 meetings. Boston did so three times.
Predictions: SU Winner – BOS, ATS Winner – BOS
Notes
New York is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games.
New York is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games.
New York is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games at home.
New York is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of New York’s last 16 games when playing Boston.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of New York’s last 5 games when playing Boston.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of New York’s last 7 games when playing at home against Boston.
New York is 4-9 ATS in its last 13 games when playing at home against Boston.
New York scores an average of 91.9 points per game (ranked 29th), while Boston gives up 101.5 points per game (ranked 24th).
New York ranks 30th in points per home game with 91.2 points, while Boston ranks 21st in points allowed on the road with 102.9.
In its last game, New York lost by a 31-point margin. Boston is 5-3 in games decided by a margin of 18 points or more. New York has a 0-18 record in blowouts.
When allowing fewer than 100 points, the Celtics are 25-6 on the season. When the Knicks score fewer than 100, they are an underachieving 6-52.
Boston is an abysmal 6-34 when it gives up 100 or more points. New York has an 8-6 record when it hits triple digits.
The Knicks have a defensive rating of 107.4 (ranked 29th), while the Celtics rank 20th for their offensive rating of 101.0.
New York has an average field goal percentage of 42.8%. Boston is a poor 12-32 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
In comparison to the rest of the league, the New York Knicks see similar results in both field goal percentage and effective field goal percentage, ranking 27th for both metrics. The Boston Celtics also rank the same for both FG% and EFF%, coming in at 21st.
On average, the Boston Celtics make 24.2 assists per game and the New York Knicks make 21.3. Boston is ranked fourth, while New York is ranked 19th.
The New York Knicks average 4.5 blocks per game for a rank of 19th. The Boston Celtics rank lower (30th), earning 3.8 blocks each game.
The New York Knicks rank 17th in offensive rebounding, while the Boston Celtics rank 10th in defensive rebounding.
On average, Boston makes 8.0 steals per game. New York is an underachieving 3-35 when it allows at least 8 steals.
