NBA Best Bets for Sunday: Celtics vs. Knicks odds, picks, predictions, props & DFS lineup

Sloan Piva

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NBA Best Bets for Sunday: Celtics vs. Knicks odds, picks, predictions, props & DFS lineup image

The NBA presents what should be a wildly-entertaining 10-game slate Sunday, but the most exciting matchup of them all might be Celtics vs. Knicks (7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN). At 45-19, Boston sits tied with Milwaukee and Denver for the most wins in the league, while New York has won eight straight games and nine of its past 10. Today we'll break down all the odds and betting trends for this east-coast showdown, and highlight our best bets, predictions, favorite player props, and top DFS picks. 

The Celtics maintained the best record in the Association for the majority of the season, but recently got leapfrogged by the Bucks and their insane 16-game winning streak. Green Teamers will tell you the Celts have been struggling, but it's all relative as Boston has still won seven of its past 10 games. Still, MVP candidate Jayson Tatum and company will have their hands full with a scorching-hot Knicks squad, which always seems to play the Celtics tough.  

Boston annihilated New York 130-118 when these teams first met in November. But the Knicks have earned a double-dose of revenge since then, winning a 120-117 TD Garden overtime battle in January and smoking the Green 109-94 at Madison Square Garden to start this week.

Julius Randle has been incredible, averaging 27.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists since February. Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart have also shined since New York acquired Hart and reunited the former Villanova teammates. Big man Mitchell Robinson also returned from injury recently, providing Tom Thibodeau with the rim protection and board-crashing the veteran coach covets so heavily. 

Can Boston get the big home W and inch to just .007 behind first place in the East? Or will the Knicks keep cruising and move up to a half-game back from the Cavaliers and the No. 4 seed? Let's break down the odds for Celtics vs. Knicks, and discuss some trends as well as our best bets, predictions, favorite player props, and the DFS lineup du jour.

Celtics vs. Knicks odds, picks, predictions

Odds courtesy of BetMGM

  • Spread: Celtics -6.5 (-105) | Knicks +6.5 (-115)
  • Total: Over 226.5 (-110) | Under 226.5 (-110)
  • Moneyline: Celtics -250 | Knicks +200

The Celtics are getting a lot of love from oddsmakers here, most likely thanks to their 25-8 record at TD Garden this season. Also of note, Joe Mazzulla's squad has Jaylen Brown back in action after a facial fracture sidelined him for a handful of games and personal reasons kept him from Boston's loss to New York on Monday. 

However, it's important to note that the Celtics have gone 4-8 against the spread in the past 12 home games in which they were listed as -5 favorites. New York, meanwhile, has covered 10 of its past 11 spreads — and two of its past three as an underdog of five-plus points. The Knicks have the third-best record ATS on the season. 

We get why you would bet on Boston today. The Celtics have hit the second-most three-pointers in the NBA (and have the sixth-best 3PT%), they pass and rebound well, and they rank within the top five in both offensive and defensive rating. But they just lost center and interior defensive anchor Robert Williams III to a hamstring injury, and they're facing a red-hot Knicks team that's as healthy as it's been all year. 

If Randle and slasher R.J. Barrett command the attention of Al Horford and Tatum, Robinson could benefit big time on the rebounding front. One thing that has really hurt the Celtics all year has been second-chance points surrendered to larger opponents. Boston was bigger than just about every foe in its NBA Finals run last year — with core injuries to Williams and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart this season, the C's have needed to rely on much more than size and strength to win.

And while this deep Boston squad still has plenty of swagger, these Knickerbockers couldn't be more confident coming into this one. Randle has been an inside-outside scoring machine. Jalen Brunson, perhaps the biggest All-Star snub of this campaign, has been playing like an All-NBA talent. He's questionable tonight with a sore left foot, but we expect the tough-minded and competitive point guard to be out there. And even if he can't go, the next man up is backup point guard Immanuel Quickley, who has been huge for a very thin second unit. Thibodeau has this squad running like the 2022 Raptors, and it's working. 

We'll be leaning toward the Knicks in this one, and we might buy a point and make it +7.5 at -130 for extra insurance. We also think the OVER is a smash play, as the Knicks have been scorching-hot over the past month and the Celtics are the fourth-highest scoring team in the Association. Boston has endured a couple of poor shooting games of late, but don't expect that to continue. With Time Lord out, Mazzulla has to go small and put all three-point shooters in the game. Bombs away. 

Best Bet: Knicks +7.5 (-130) and OVER 226.5 (-110)

Celtics vs. Knicks: Best player prop bets

Al Horford over 6.5 rebounds (+115) OR 15.5+ points + rebounds (-105)

Al Horford Boston Celtics
(Getty Images)

Much like Travis Kelce kept making us money on late-season and playoff props in the Chiefs' Super Bowl run, Horford has been cashing us plenty of player props of late. The veteran big always seems to come up big for Boston when it needs him the most, and he's as reliable as they come with a crucial open triple. With Williams out, Horford will be crashing the boards on defense and spacing the floor on offense. And when the Jays, Smart, Malcolm Brogdon, and Derrick White attract Knicks defenders on penetration, Al will be one of the guys ready to fire from the perimeter and corner. 

Mitchell Robinson over 9.5 rebounds (-105)

mitchell robinson

Robinson's eyes probably lit up when he saw that Time Lord won't be playing this evening. The board-crashing big has logged double-digit rebounds in four of the five games since returning from rehab following his thumb surgery. He only grabbed five against Miami, but before that he logged 10, 13, 13, and 12. This dude has a 60.4 percent contested rebounding rate. Horford, Grant Williams, and the Jays won't keep this beast off the boards tonight.

Celtics vs. Knicks: DFS lineup

Lineup assembled in DraftKings Showdown Mode. Six spots, $50,000 limit.

Position Player FPPG Salary
Captain (1.5x FPTS) Jaylen Brown (BOS) 43.2 $15,000
Utility Jayson Tatum (BOS) 52.8 $12,000
Utility Julius Randle (NY) 47.4 $11,000
Utility Immanuel Quickley (NY) 25.1 $5,000
Utility Isaiah Hartenstein (NY) 17.1 $3,200
Utility Mike Muscala (BOS) 13.3 $3,400

JB gets the nod in our captain spot, saving us a boatload of money compared to what Tatum and Randle's captain prices would have been ($18,000 and $16,500, respectively). We contemplated captaining Randle and swapping Muscala on the backend for Grant Williams, but GW has been inconsistent as all get-out this calendar year. So we'll stick with Brown coming through for us, alongside fellow Jay Tatum and of course Randle. IQ makes the lineup because he's been awesome lately, and could be called upon to play a larger role with Brunson's foot hurting. If Brunson sits tonight, we'll be handsomely rewarded — he's averaging 17.5 points, 4.8 boards, and 4.7 assists as a starter this season. No Rob Williams means plenty of opportunities for Hartenstein, who owns a whopping 21.2 percent rebounding rate, and Celtics trade-deadline acquisition and backup big Mike Muscala.

Sloan Piva

Sloan Piva Photo

Sloan Piva is a content producer for The Sporting News, primarily focused on betting, fantasy sports, and poker. A lifelong New Englander, Sloan earned his BA and MA in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts and now lives in coastal Rhode Island with his wife and two kids.