The second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs has finally arrived. In an intriguing Eastern Conference matchup, the Boston Celtics are set to face the New York Knicks on Monday night. The Celtics are heavily favored to win the series, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make some NBA prop bets for Game 1. Let’s look at the matchup and determine the best Celtics vs Knicks prop bets for the first game of this series.
The Best Celtics Vs Knicks Prop Bets for Game 1
*All Celtics-Knicks prop bet odds are courtesy of Bovada as of Monday morning
Karl-Anthony Towns: Under 19.5 points (-114)
Karl-Anthony Towns will be a key figure for the Knicks in this series. Boston has one of the best defenses in the league, and Towns’ ability to get things going on that end of the floor could be the deciding factor of whether this series is close or a blowout. In their first-round series against the Pistons, Towns averaged 19.7 points, 10 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting 48% from three.
The Pistons’ defense is solid but nowhere near as good as the Celtics. We expect Boston to come out in Game 1 and throw everything they can at the easily flappable Towns. When things got tight during Games 5 and 6 in the Pistons-Knicks series, Towns somewhat disappeared. With the pressure on in Game 1, we think he will once again take a backseat on the scoring front.
Jalen Brunson: Over 9.5 rebounds/assists (-135)
This line seems way too low, which is why it is one of our best prop bets for Game 1. Jalen Brunson has combined for at least 10 rebounds and assists in each of the first six games of these playoffs. He did only barely surpass this line of 9.5 in three of those six games, but with all the minutes he is getting, racking up rebounds and assists isn’t hard for Brunson to do.
We expect the Celtics’ defense to be keyed in on Brunson. They may force the ball out of his hands into the supporting role players on the Knicks. This will provide a lot of opportunities for assists. When Brunson played the Celtics in April, he had 10 assists alone.
Jayson Tatum: Over 14.5 rebounds/assists (-115)
Jayson Tatum is one of the best all-around performers left in the playoffs. He can score, defend, rebound, and play make. We expect him to be showing off all his skills in Game 1. Accumulating 15 combined rebounds and assists should be easy for Tatum. Against the incredible defense of the Magic, he averaged 16.5 combined rebounds and assists, and averaged 14.7 on the season.
Tatum only failed to reach this number once last series. We expect him to be even more of a factor in this series. Tatum has also gone over his rebounds/assists line in seven of his last ten games played. We can’t predict whether Tatum will have a big scoring night in Game 1. However, we predict that he will be active in all other aspects of the game, making this over a solid Celtics-Knicks prop bet.
Featured image credit: © David Butler II-Imagn Images
The post The Best Celtics Vs Knicks Prop Bets For Game 1 appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.