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Mixed martial arts New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics Preview and Expert Tip: NBA Back at MSG
In Madison Square Garden, New York Knicks will be a host for their season opener against Boston Celtics. While the Celtics made some noticeable changes, the Knicks kept their whole last year rotation.
Our basketball expert Elek Lenard breaks down the Eastern Conference match-up and gives us his best value pick. For moore daily basketball tips, visit the bettingexpert community, but if you want more of our expert opinions & predictions, visit Expert Insights.
In this article:
- New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics Expert Tip
- New York Knicks Stats and Form
- Boston Celtics Stats and Form
- New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics H2H
New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics Expert Tip
Kristaps Porzingis arrived to Boston this off-season. The Latvian center played in Washington, and he had high usage which he probably won’t in a much deeper Boston team.
In 64 games he played last year for Washington, he went over this line in 31. Now with smaller role, it should be even harder for him. In the preseason, Porzingis had just one assist in 4 games he played, while averaging 23 minutes per game.
One of those games was against Knicks, in which he had 0 assists in 28 minutes. Porzingis won’t have that many possessions with the ball, and this line is clearly projected from his last season stats. Kristaps averaged 1.8 assists per game in his career. With the Knicks focusing defense on Jayson Tatum, Porzingis should have opportunities to finish plays.
New York Knicks Stats and Form
In the four games New York played this preseason, they won just one. The core of the team has been kept, and they have ambitions to go a step further than last season. Of course, those defeats in the preseason are meaningless, as every rotational player was getting playtime, while the starters didn’t play more than 25 minutes.
They lost all of their games mostly due to not really trying at defense and just testing the end of the rotation, which isn’t particularly great. Brunson and Randle will be leading the way, with Barrett and Grimes as secondary options.
All eyes are especially on Grimes, who is ready to have another leap. Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein are their centers, and we could see a better season from Hartenstein, who looks more healthy. But it is hard to predict whether the Knicks will take a step further, as the only change they had this offseason is trading Obi Toppin and signing Donte DiVincenzo. Donte is a great roleplayer who is really useful for his team as a jack of all trades, but many teams upgraded them much more.
One thing that can be an X-factor is Evan Fournier. The French veteran got a chance this preseason, and it is possible he could return to the Knicks rotation.
Boston Celctics Stats and Form
The Celtics decided to make some noise this off-season, as they acquired Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, and Grant Williams are not in Boston anymore, but they signed some bench players to fill some of those holes.
In the preseason, Boston won four out of five games. In some games the starters played, while against the Knicks they tested the bench. There are some concerns about Porzingis’ health, but they should be good enough just to cruise through the regular season.
From Marcus Smart to Jrue Holiday should be a huge upgrade and it will make Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum play with much more ease, as Jrue can play both on and off the ball, being better than Smart in both categories.
Losing Robert Williams was big, as he held their defense and had some involvement in actions, but Porzingis is a much more talented scorer and it will be the first time in two years we will see Porzingis back into a competitive team.
Their bench has some unproven players that could surprise, so while there aren’t many big names, it shouldn’t be a huge issue. Overall, they should improve this season, but probably we will see Porzingis resting and them cruising into the playoffs without forcing things.
New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics H2H
Last season, New York won 3 out of 4 games. In recent years, the teams split: the score is 7-7 in the last three seasons. It will be interesting to see will the Knicks again have no trouble winning vs Boston like last year.
If we dont look at preseason and Summer League games, recently there has been a solid number of points when these two teams play, so don’t fall for the under 224.0 totals points bet just because it says in H2H that in the last 10 games’ the points average has been 217. It is skewed by games from the Summer League.
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