NBA: Celtics vs. Knicks Preview

Written by Jake Thompson
Thursday, 17 March 2011 10:49

It’s time to preview Monday night’s NBA game between the Celtics and the Knicks.

The New York Knicks will be the home team for their potential NBA playoff preview game against the Boston Celtics, and we wanted to take some time to look at both teams in an effort to figure out what Eastern Conference squad will come out on top.  The game between the Celtics and Knicks has a 7:30 PM ET start time and NBA predictions are easy to make when you consider a few important statistics.

Although New York is at home, the Knicks’ record on their home court isn’t that scary when you figure that the Celtics have been just as strong on the road record-wise.  These two NBA teams last met up on December 15th and it was the Celtics who took home a 118-116 victory with the game being played in New York.  Boston also has a 105-101 win against the Knicks that came just a few days into the start of the 2010-2011 regular season.

Of course, both of those games were played before the mega trade that sent forward Carmelo Anthony and guard Chauncey Billups to the Knicks from the Denver Nuggets nearly a month ago.  New York has been playing mostly .500 basketball since the move, but you have to figure that the new teammates would need some time to go through growing pains before the squad started to gel and play at a high level.

Boston’s shot selection and defense have been astronomical all season long and it will be interesting to see if the Celtics speed up their offense to match the Knicks’ up-tempo attack.  New York ranks amongst the best in the NBA at scoring points and has been successful this year despite the fact that their defensive numbers are atrocious.  The Knicks are the NBA equivalent of a boxer that swings wildly for the knockout without worrying much about getting hit back.

The Celtics haven’t been playing great basketball recently either and their offense hasn’t been hitting shots at a rate equivalent with what they’ve been able to accomplish for much of the season.  That being said, Boston should score with ease against New York’s Swiss-cheese defense and I’m not sure the Knicks have enough offensive rhythm just yet to fire back appropriately against this strong of a defense.  NBA predictions here call for the Celtics to prove they are the best in the East while using the still-developing Knicks to make that statement.

Celtics 108

Knicks 98