A Healthy Boston
The Boston Celtics are set to play the New York Knicks on the road on January 7th.
A Healthy Boston
The Celtics are coming off a 2 point loss against the Spurs and are traveling to New York for a back-to-back appearance, where they are 5-2. The Celtics are 10th in the Eastern Conference and 4th in the Atlantic division.
The last time the Celtics played, against the Magic, they walked away with a win by a score of 116-111. In that matchup, Boston was 45.3% (39 of 86) and converted 13 out of their 36 3-pointers. Overall they are 15th in the league in scoring offense with an average of 108.2 points per game(15th in the league) while going 44.3% from the field. The Celtics are hitting 33.3% on shots from downtown and 81.1% from the charity line. As for assists they have earned 843 assists on the season, which is 21st in the league. On the defensive end, they are 14th in the league, allowing an average of 107.1 points per contest and 46.1 rebounds per contest. The Celtics defensively are giving up a field goal percentage of 44.1% and conceding 45.6 boards per contest.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are undoubtedly the key players heading into this matchup. Jayson Tatum has an average of 25.4 points plus 8.6 rebounds per contest, while Jaylen Brown is second in points with an average of 24.5 and 6.1 rebounds per contest. Last night, however, Jaylen Brown put up an impressive 30 points while Jayson Tatum had 19 points. Brown finished shooting 65.5% from the floor and distributed 4 assists. He played for 46 mins and also collected 11 rebounds. He had 50 points on 19 of 29 shooting.
The Climb Begins
When the Knicks last played, they went home victorious with a score of 104-94 when they faced the Pacers, giving them their 6th win in the last 10 games. They finished 23.7% from beyond the perimeter by shooting 9 out of 38 and ended the game shooting 21 out of 32 from the charity line. (65.6%) All in all, the Knicks finished 39 out of 80 from the floor which gave them a rate of 48.8%. When it comes to shooting from distance, New York was 6 for 28 (21.4%). They were able to score 20 of the free throws for a percentage of 71.4%. As for rebounds, the Knicks recorded 37 defensive rebounds and 14 offensive boards totaling 51 for the matchup.
A key player is Julius Randle. Randle scored 30 points in his 39 minutes on the floor and accounted for 4 assists in the game. He knocked down 12 out of 20 in this contest for a field goal percentage of 60.0% and got up for 16 rebounds. New York has a record of 18-20 for the season, making them tied for 4th in the Atlantic Division. On the offensive side of the ball, the Knicks are connecting on 43.6% from the field, which has them ranked 25th in the league.
The Knicks on the defensive side of the court are 6th in basketball in PPG given up with 105.4. They have forced 12.9 turnovers on a nightly basis and have let teams shoot 43.8% from the field (4th in the league). The New York defense concedes 34.8% from the three-point line and their opposition makes 78.2% of their shots from the free-throw line.
Final Thoughts
These teams are coming into this matchup neck in neck. Coming off a hard loss game against the Spurs, they’ll be undoubtedly fatigued and it could start to take a toll on the players, as this is their second time playing back-to-back games. The Celtics have struggled on the road this season, but on the bright side, Jayson Tatum got out of Covid protocols for last night’s game, but has he gotten back into the rhythm already? New York, on the other hand, has been playing better in the last few weeks after a long extended period of what can only be called a mediocre play. However, the Celtics are looking really solid, and if Jaylen Brown performs like he did last night they’ll be in pretty good shape.
Prediction: Take Boston to cover the spread