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NBA Expert Pick: Boston Celtics Host New York Knicks in East Coast Clash

Bookmark and Share by D.S. Williamson

The Boston Celtics, with their 42 and 24 record straight-up, remain one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Not a lot of press has been written about the 2010 Celtics because both Orlando and Cleveland have done so well in the East.

These Celtics aren’t bad, though, at least when it comes to winning games outright, and more often than not they’ll put another “W” onto their record. When it comes to the spread, however, the Celtics definitely leave something to be desired. Boston Celtics is 26-38-2 ATS. They have a worse ATS record at home of 9-22-1.

The team that they face on Wednesday night, the New York Knicks, don’t have a winning ATS record of 35-31-1 but it’s much better than the Celtics’ against the spread record. Can the Knicks win another game against the spread?

New York Knicks +9 -110 O 208 -110

Boston Celtics -9 -110 U 208 -110

Game-night: 3/17/2010

Tip-off: 7:30 pm EST

TV: MSG

You would think that the NBA betting trends would just favor the Knicks, but that’s really not the case. Some trends do favor the Knicks but other trends favor the Celtics.

  • The New York Knicks are 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games as an underdog.
  • The New York Knicks are 3 and 10 ATS in their last 13 games following an ATS victory.
  • The New York Knicks are 1-4-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings between these two teams in Boston.
  • The Boston Celtics are 5 and 1 ATS in their last 6 games versus a team with a losing straight-up record.

The last time that these two teams met Boston beat New York 110 to 106 as 9 ½ point favorites. Boston can run with the Knicks, but if that happens, then the Celtics will be taken out of their game.

Boston’s best chance of success, not only against the spread in this game, but also straight-up is to sit back and play defense. The Celtics do best when causing turnovers and converting those into baskets.

But New York may not cooperate. The Knicks have won two games in a row both straight-up and ATS. They beat the Dallas Mavericks 128 to 94 as 10 ½ point underdogs and the Philadelphia 76’ers 94 to 84 as 2 ½ point dogs.

There is a question as to whether or not the New York Knicks can do well for a third straight game. The Knicks haven’t won 3 straight games in a row since early January. They haven’t covered ATS in 3 straight games in a row since early January. The last two times the Knicks covered two spreads in a row, they failed to cover in the 3 rd game.

They covered two spreads in a row against Boston and Washington in late February and then lost straight-up and ATS to Memphis. They covered two spreads in a row against Detroit and Toronto and then lost straight-up and ATS to New Jersey.

Now, that’s the real trend to think about when making a wager on this game. The New York Knicks have been playing well but usually they only play well up to that 3 rd game. What should change this time around? Absolutely nothing.

Paul Pierce should go for the Men in Green, his absence would give me a different perspective on this one, no trends truly favor the Knicks, and one very strong trend favors the Celtics.

I’m going to lay the 9 points and bet and the Celtics to cover.

Pick: Boston -9