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Best Bet: Derrick White O2.5 3PM (-105) at DraftKings
Score Prediction: Celtics 112, Knicks 110
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Up to $1,500 in Bonus Bets if Your First Bet Doesn't Win*
*Bonus Bets Expire in 7 Days. One New Customer Offer Only. Add’l terms. 21+. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET
The Pick: Celtics 112, Knicks 110
We’ll take Derrick White three-point total based on head-to-head data against the Knicks.
Game Betting Analysis
The data points for this game are all over the place, so we’ll head to the player prop market where there is more conviction in the data. We’ll focus on Derrick White, who has scored at least 19 points in his last seven home games against New York. We get better value on the three-point market, though, as he has actually hit three or more three-pointers in a ridiculous 10 straight games when facing the Knicks as favorites. With much indecision in the popular markets, we’ll land here with White’s 3PM odds.
Knicks-Celtics Odds (Spread, Moneyline, Over/Under)
Deciding Factor: The Champion Knicks’ Suffocating Defense vs. Tatum’s Rust, PG’s Outbreak
New York enters this one as the defending NBA champions, built around a defense that led the entire league in defensive rating (104.5) a season ago while also ranking 2nd in steals (163) and 4th in total blocks (82), anchored by wing stoppers OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges. The Knicks’ championship ring-night opener against Philadelphia was far from clean, a 106-100 loss in which the team shot just 37.2% from the field, but the defensive infrastructure that carried them to a title remains fully intact, and it now meets a Celtics team walking in with its own uncertainty at the top. Jayson Tatum is playing his first game against the Knicks since tearing his Achilles in Game 4 of last year’s second-round series against this exact roster, and his season opener did little to suggest he’s fully himself again, a quiet 6-of-23 shooting night with zero makes on seven three-point attempts in Boston’s loss to Detroit. Tatum now draws primary defensive attention from two of the league’s best wing defenders in Anunoby and Bridges, the same type of length and physicality that has given him trouble in the past.
Boston, meanwhile, has a legitimate counterpunch in new addition Paul George, acquired this summer in the trade that sent Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia, who authored a sensational Celtics debut with 38 points on 12-of-21 shooting and 7-of-12 from three against the Pistons. George carries real season-long credibility behind that performance, having shot 39.2% from three and averaged 17.3 points with the 76ers a year ago, and the Knicks’ defense, for all its pedigree, just allowed Philadelphia to shoot 33.3% from deep in the opener. If Tatum’s shooting slump continues, George’s movement shooting gives Boston a real path to forcing New York to choose which scorer to prioritize, and that two-man problem could be enough to knock off the champs in their first road test of the title defense.
Game Information
- Date: Friday, October 23, 2026
- Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. (ET)
- Network: APVO
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts
- Venue: TD Garden – n/a
Key Players
New York Knicks
- Jalen Brunson — Last Game: 21 points
- Karl Anthony Towns — Last Game: 19 points, 12 rebounds
Boston Celtics
- Jayson Tatum — Last Game: 13 points, 11 assists
- Paul George — Last Game: 38 points
Photo Credit: REUTERS
