Celtics remain favorites to beat Knicks in NBA playoffs despite 0-2 deficit

New York Knicks fans may buy their team in the 2-0 lead of their team in the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference against the Boston Celtics, but the Odddsmaker are not yet.

From Thursday at 1 p.m. ET, the Celtics will still be listed as betting favorites despite their 2-0 series deficit to win the series via Fanduel Sportsbook. The incumbent champions are listed on -112 (Wet $ 112 on $ 100) on the series market, while the Knicks are listed at -104 (bet 104 US dollars to win $ 100).

It is not difficult to understand why the Celtics can still be viewed as favorites.

On the one hand, the home advantage this season was not so meaningful for her. They had a 33-8 record from home and a 28-13 record in the TD Garden. They also defeated the Orlando Magic in their last game in the first round of playoffs.

In addition, they built in each of the first two competitions against the Knicks 20-point leads before they fell apart.

While New York deserves a lot of recognition for the conclusion of the comeback, part of it can be attributed to the shooting variance for a Boston team, which is usually very effective. The Celtics shot 15 of 60 from the three -point range in game 1 and 10 of 40 in game 2.

Despite this miserable shooting in such a high volume, they lost in game 1 in extra time and by a single point in game 2.

If a few of these three-point points go under in the game 3 on Saturday, the sound of the entire series will shift. A change of setting could also help Jayson Tatum and Co. to play as closely by the wayside as they did in front of the anxious Boston fans.

The entire momentum is on the side of the Knicks, but more than just two early victories will take to eliminate the reigning champions. In fact, it takes more than two early victories to even make them outsiders.