Pro Basketball Betting: Boston Celtics at New York Knicks Expert Picks

Boston Celtics at New York Knicks
Wednesday, 12/15/10, 7:00 PM EDT, TV: ESPN
Opening Point Spread: Boston -3.5
Current Betting Line: Boston -3
Opening Total: 206
Current Total: 205.5

The New York Knicks are 10-1 ATS as an underdog during the 2010-11 NBA season and host the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night

Boston enters Wednesday’s contest as the hottest team in the NBA and will likely hear more about its opponents winning streak than theirs. “They’re probably going to be extremely fired up for this game and I’m hoping our guys can match that intensity,” said coach Doc Rivers. “Any time a game has energy, it’s great.” The Celtics have a dominating 19-4 overall record and are 7-2 on the road against Eastern Conference opponents. The team’s current 10-game winning streak is one shy of its longest from all of last season. Boston comes in off a dominating 93-62 victory in Charlotte on Saturday despite shooting a season-low 43.7 percent from the floor. Last year’s Eastern Conference Champions are 13-9 ATS on the year and slight road favorites on the NBA lines page.

The Celtics captured the first game of this year’s series with a 105-101 win at the TD Garden and also finished with a 3-1 edge during the 2009-10 season. Point guard Rajon Rondo recorded the second-highest single game assist mark in franchise history with 24 in the earlier meeting, continuing his strong play from the previous year in averaging 11.0 assists versus the Knicks. Boston’s strong play to start the season is nothing new, as it became the first team in NBA history to win 16 of its first 20 games for four consecutive seasons.

New York is riding its longest winning streak since the 1993-94 season, but experts are quick to point out that three opponents among its last 14 currently have winning records. The Knicks are certainly aware that the level of competition rises in tonight’s contest against one of the top teams in the league. “They obviously have won a championship a couple of years prior, went to the finals last year, so they’re hands-down the team to beat in the East,” said Amare Stoudemire. New York did pick up a 104-101 victory in the most recent meeting in the Big Apple, with Danilo Gallinari pacing the offensive attack with 31 points. New York is 10-1 ATS as an underdog this year.

The Knicks have undoubtedly been led by the great play of Stoudemire recently, but point guard Raymond Felton is deserving of accolades as well. He had 19 points and 17 rebounds in the team’s most recent victory over the Denver Nuggets and has hit double-figures in assists in six of the last eight games. Both players have been instrumental in leading the NBA’s best offense entering this high-profile contest, averaging 108.5 points per game. In Mike D’Antoni’s first two seasons as head coach, New York finished 10th in the NBA in scoring in 2009-10 and fourth in 2008-09.

Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Celtics are 9-1 ATS as a road favorite of 0.5 to 4.5 points, while the Knicks are 13-3 ATS in their last 16 games overall.