The Boston Celtics will look to stave off elimination when they travel for game five of their best of seven NBA playoff series with the New York Knicks from pro basketball on Wednesday night. Tip off time from Madison Square Garden in New York City is set for 8PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by TNT.
The odds from this NBA playoff game have the home team New York Knicks favored by -8 points with an over under line of 180 points. There has been no line movement since the NBA odds were released a few hours ago.
The Celtics survived elimination in game four as they hold off the New York Knicks in game three in overtime by the score of 97-90 as a +1 ½ point home underdog. The total landed over 181 ½ points. Boston is down 3-1 to the Knicks in this best of seven Eastern conference playoff series.
Boston had another bad second half as they blow a 19 point halftime lead by getting outscored 49-30 in the second half. The Celtics shot 44.7% from the floor and made 8 of 22 three pointers. They were good at the free throw line making 21 of 24 from the charity stripe. Boston had 14 less rebounds than the Knicks. Paul Pierce had 29 points and eight rebounds as he made 9 of 20 from the field. Jeff Green stepped up with 26 points and pulled down six boards by making 9 of 22 from the floor. In the first three games of this series the Celtics have averaged 75 points a game. Rebounds have been an issue for Boston all season long as they rank 29th and second to last in the league. There is not much size down low in support of Kevin Garnett.
The Knicks shot a poor 34.4% from the floor in defeat and made 7 of 30 three pointers. They got to the free throw line 28 times and made 21 shots. New York played without key scoring sixth man J.R. Smith who was suspended for the game. Carmelo Anthony had 36 points and seven rebounds as he made 10 of his 35 shots and went 0 of 7 from three. Raymond Felton contributed with 27 points and four boards on 10 of 21 shooting. Defensively the Knicks have played very well leading up to the playoffs and it has continued into the playoffs. The team is 7th in the NBA in scoring defense as they allow 95.7 points a game to opponents.
