Sports gambling will be legal in the state of New York as of Saturday! To celebrate, we are bringing you a mega preview of the Celtics-Knicks game. Check out our best spread and player prop bets for the clash right here and good luck to everyone following!
New York Knicks at Boston Celtics
TD Garden, Saturday 8th January, 7.30pm (ET)
Meeting for the second time in three days, the Celtics are set to host the Knicks at the TD Garden in Boston on Saturday night. If it’s anything like the game that transpired on Thursday night, then we’re in for a real treat! RJ Barrett broke Celtic hearts with an otherworldly three-point bank shot at the buzzer, capping off a huge comeback win where the Knicks trailed by as many as 25 points during the second quarter.
The Knicks triumph on Thursday night made it two wins on the spin and five from their last seven in what’s turning into a very important run for their ball club. Their recent form has seen their record improve to 19-20, which is good enough for 10th spot in the East and only one game back from the Hornets who currently occupy the eighth seed.
The Celtics loss in the dying moments last time out would’ve came as no surprise to their fans. They’ve been the worst team in clutch moments this season, losing six out of seven games that have been decided by three or fewer points. They’ve now lost their last two games by a combined five points, which has seen the Celtics slip to 11th in the East with a record of 18-21.
These teams have now played each other three times this season, meaning their clash on Saturday will be the final time they see each other unless by some miracle they face off in the playoffs. Just 14 points have decided their first three meetings, with the Knicks leading the series 2-1 after winning their first and third clash, both of which were on their home deck.
Despite being behind in the season series and losing a heartbreaker against the Knicks on Thursday night, the Celtics will start as the short-priced favorites in Boston on Saturday. The Celtics will be boosted by putting out a near full-strength line-up for the first time in a long time, but even when fully healthy they still haven’t set the world on fire this season. With all things considered, taking the Knicks to cover a +7 spread for the fourth time in as many games against the Celtics looks to be the way to play this one.
NEW YORK SPORTS GAMBLING TO GO LIVE ON SATURDAY
In an announcement completely out of the blue, the state of New York will go live with sports gambling as of this Saturday, just in time for the NFL Playoffs and the back half of the NBA season!
Four bookmakers have already confirmed that they will launch their New York based products this Saturday. To celebrate, we have outlined the four sportsbooks below!
Player Props
For the first of two player props we fancy Celtics guard Marcus Smart to cover his points line of 11.5 at DraftKings Sportsbook. He’s been in the best form of the season over the last couple of weeks and comes into this game with an average of 17.6 points over his last five outings. On top of that, Smart has scored 14+ points in each of those five games, yet his points line remains a couple of points lower than that, which looks one for us to attack.
We’re sticking with the Celtics for the second of our two player prop bets, this time focusing on big-man Robert Williams. The 24-year-old has turned himself into an important role player for the Celtics and arguably their best defender. He’s clearly put an emphasis on cleaning the glass in recent weeks, recording 9+ rebounds in each of his last seven games, averaging 11.3 during that span. Despite all of that, Williams’ rebounding line remains at 8.5, which is too low for us.
DraftKings 1st Deposit Bonus Offer
Users will receive a first deposit match at 20% value of their initial deposit, which means to claim the full $1,000 in site credits, they must deposit $5,000.
Site credits will be awarded to the user according to the following play-through requirement: for every $25 played on DraftKings in DFS/Sportsbook/Casino, the user will receive $1 in bonus funds released into their customer account (e.g., a $5,000 deposit requires a customer to play through a cumulative total of $25,000 in daily fantasy contests, sportsbook (-300 odds or longer), casino products, or any combination thereof to receive the maximum possible bonus amount of $1,000).
