Celtics vs. Knicks Prediction and Odds: Can the Knicks Break the Curse

The Boston Celtics (58-20) will take on their Eastern Conference rivals, the New York Knicks (50-28), in a potential playoff preview on Tuesday night.

The Celtics enter the matchup having won 11 of their last 12 games and beaten the Washington Wizards by 34 points in their last outing. They went 3-0 against the Knicks with an average margin of victory of a whopping 21 points, the last of those victories coming on Feb. 23.

The Knicks welcomed Jalen Brunson back into the lineup for his first game in a month on Sunday, during which he had 15 points and six assists in 34 minutes. The team won five of its last six but has proven to be inept against the top contenders in the East.

Here, I will break down the Celtics vs. Knicks odds and share my best bets for the Tuesday showdown.

For more betting insights, check out our NBA Player Props and Best Bets.

Celtics vs. Knicks Betting Odds for Tuesday, April 8

The Celtics are 37-40-1 (48.1 percent) against the spread, 20-18-1 (52.6 percent) ATS on the road, and 1-2 (33.3 percent) ATS as an underdog.

The Knicks are 38-39-1 (49.4 percent) ATS, 20-18-1 (52.6 percent) ATS at home, and 33-29-1 (53.2 percent) ATS as a favorite.

Odds from BetMGM Sportsbook. Use our BetMGM promo code WSNSPORTS to get up to $1,500 in bonus bets.

Celtics vs. Knicks Prediction

Boston Celtics Preview

The Celtics being underdogs in this matchup indicates that the oddsmakers believe the Celtics will be without the full complement of their starting lineup.

Kristpas Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White are all questionable, and Al Horford was already ruled out with a knee injury. 

With that out of the way, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the Celtics are quietly playing their best ball of the season. They led the NBA in offensive rating and were 10th in defensive rating over the last 30 days, during which their +12.0 net rating ranked third in the league.

Those numbers still aren’t all that different from their season standards. They ranked second in offensive and fifth in defensive rating with a +9.5 net rating (second).

Boston has also been at its best against elite competition. Their +7.1 net rating excluding garbage time against opponents with top-10 point differentials is second in the league, only behind the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Knicks, for comparison, were eighth but only had a -2.8 rating.

The Celtics also dominated this particular matchup. They shot 51.3 percent from the floor, 45.1 percent from three, and 88.4 percent at the line in their three blowout wins against a team many believed was built specifically to slow down their offense.

Brunson’s reintegration into the starting lineup will diminish the Knicks’ defensive output. However, it’s still worth pointing out that while the Knicks had one of the three worst three-point defenses in the sport for most of the year, they held teams to the second-fewest made threes per game over the last month.

The Celtics are already locked into the second seed and cannot gain or lose anything in this matchup. They have a back-to-back against the Orlando Magic tomorrow, so in all likelihood, they will rest at least a few, if not all of their top guys.

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New York Knicks Preview

The Knicks are in an interesting spot, one that is both perilous but could lead to glory. 

They find themselves in this position because of how underwhelming they were against the Celtics and the other top contenders in each conference. Their 0-8 record against the Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Oklahoma City Thunder has taken them out of the spotlight and made them a bit of an afterthought in the race to the NBA championship.

That does not mean that the Knicks aren’t still a quality team, and that’s where the opportunity lies. They have the privilege of being in a position to potentially hurt the top teams but the negative stigma that will prevent the NBA world from taking them seriously until they prove they can consistently compete with those top teams.

The Knicks ranked 18th in offensive and sixth in defensive rating over the last month, though nearly all of that was without Brunson. They were fifth in offensive and 13th in defensive rating with a +4.3 net rating (eighth) for the year.

Brunson understandably did not look like his usual self in his return against Phoenix. That means that there will be pressure on Karl-Anthony Towns to step up his game against a defense that allowed the fewest points per game to opposing centers. 

As I mentioned above, the Knicks’ three-point defense will also be put to the test, especially with Brunson back in the lineup. NY also did not shoot poorly in its losses to the Celtics (46.6 percent from the field, 37.8 percent from three), which means that the importance of the team’s defensive output will be heightened even further.

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Celtics vs. Knicks Betting Pick

• Celtics vs. Knicks pick: Celtics +1.5 (-110) at BetMGM

This game is tough to call since it’s unclear who will be available for the Celtics. To be completely honest, my best advice is to wait for the full injury report to come out before forming any judgments.

If the Celtics have at least two of Tatum, Brown, and White, I’d heavily consider taking them on the spread. They owned this matchup, and the Knicks with a diminished Brunson and also potentially without Miles McBride would be well below their optimal level.

If all of the Celtics’ best players are out, then my opinion would ultimately depend on where the line settles. If I’m forced to make a Celtics vs. Knicks pick with the available information, it would be…

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How to Watch Celtics vs. Knicks on 4/8/25

• When: Tuesday, April 8 @ 7:30 p.m. ET

• Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

• TV: TNT/truTV/Max