Madison Square Garden promises to be electric on Saturday afternoon for Game 3 of Celtics vs. Knicks.
The reigning champs built substantial leads at home in both Games 1 and 2, but New York stormed back to win both those contests in stunning fashion.
The Celtics — who have been one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league over the last two years — made just 25-of-100 shots from downtown in those games to put themselves in a 2-0 hole.
They nevertheless remain the slight betting favorites in this series, but Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the Boston supporting cast will need to find their shooting touch ASAP to keep their title defense alive.
Celtics vs. Knicks Game 3 Betting Odds
How to Watch Celtics vs. Knicks Game 3
- Tipoff: 3:30 p.m. ET
- Channel: ABC
Celtics vs. Knicks Series Winner Odds (as of May 10)
- DraftKings: BOS -125; NYK +105
- FanDuel: BOS -118; NYK +100
Celtics vs. Knicks Game 3 Player Props
Karl-Anthony Towns 12+ Rebounds (+110 at DraftKings) — 1 unit
Towns averaged nearly 13 rebounds per game in the regular season. He didn’t exactly dominate the glass early in the Knicks’ first-round matchup against the Pistons, though, finishing with single-digit boards in three of the first four games of that series.
But he was a force for the Knicks in the paint in both Games 1 and 2 of this series, and we expect that to continue to be the case throughout this matchup.
Towns finished Game 1 vs. the Celtics with 14 points and 13 rebounds despite being limited by foul trouble to 31 minutes. He added 21 points and 17 boards in Game 2 as 38-year-old Al Horford, Luke Kornet and Kristaps Porzingis all struggled to box him out.
He could have a tougher time today if Porzingis is able to log extended minutes, but that’s hardly a distinct possibility amid KP’s unknown non-COVID illness, which limited him to 27 total minutes in the first two games of this series.
As long as Towns can stay out of foul trouble (which is admittedly a substantial if), expect him to reach at least 12 rebounds today, as he’s recorded 18, 14, 13 and 17 boards in the last four NYK-BOS matchups dating back to the regular season.
In two other regular-season meetings between these teams this year, he finished with nine rebounds in 28 minutes and seven rebounds in 24 minutes — solid per-minute numbers, if not massive totals.
Celtics vs. Knicks Game 3 Pick, Best Bets
The eye test says that it’s insane that the Knicks are getting 6 points at home, especially given how well Brunson and Co. played at MSG this year.
But while it’s worth noting that New York went 27-14 at MSG in the regular season, it’s also notable that Boston was much better on the road than at home all season.
And the biggest question, obviously, is whether it’s realistic to expect the Celtics to shoot as poorly as they did earlier this week for the third consecutive game.
This feels like a stay-away for me. An emphatic bounceback win by Boston by a significant margin feels just as likely as another nailbiter won by the Knicks on a huge last-second bucket by Brunson.
Cliche as it is, taking the Knicks to get an early boost from the crowd and build at least a slight lead going into the second quarter is tempting — and the price on NY to win the first quarter (+168) makes it impossible to resist.
Let’s also go with the Over. There’s too much offensive firepower on both rosters for this to be another game where both teams struggle to crack 100 points (and remember, all four regular-season matchups between these teams all cracked 220 total points, with three of them going over 230.
Celtics vs. Knicks Game 3 Best Bets:
- Knicks 1st Quarter Moneyline (+168 at FanDuel) — 0.5 units
- Over 207.5 (-112 at DraftKings) — 1 unit
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