The most intriguing matchup in the first round of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs pit the No.6 seed New York Knicks against the No.3 seed Boston Celtics in a best-of-seven series.
The combination of Amar?e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony in New York has appeared to gel at just the right time as the Knicks are steam-rolling into the playoffs with seven wins in their last eight games to run their record to 42-39 straight-up and 46-33-2 against the spread. The total has stayed ?under? in their last four games and in 41 games this season.
Stoudemire is averaging 25.4 points and 8.2 rebounds and Anthony is averaging 26.3 points and 6.7 rebounds to lead the way for New York. Chauncey Billups has also made his presence felt with 17.5 points and 5.5 assists a game. There is little doubt that this team can score as it is ranked second in the NBA with 106.6 points a game. The question is can it stop the Celtics or anyone for that matter, after giving up an average of 105.7 points a game.
There is some genuine concern among the Boston faithful given how this team has played down the stretch. The Celtics have lost three of their last four games and are currently 55-26 SU and 37-42-2 ATS. The total has stayed ?under? in five of their last seven games and in 54.3 percent of their games overall this season.
The regular cast of characters, including Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Rajon Rondo are all healthy and ready to go, but you get the feeling the path to another Eastern Conference Championship will be a rough one starting with this series. The Celtics are hoping to get Shaquille O?Neal back sometime over the next week or so, but it remains to be seen how much of an impact he can still make.
These teams square-off against one another in Wednesday night?s regular season finale, but do not expect to get any clues to this series from the outcome of the game as most of the starters will be sitting this one out. Boston has won all three previous meetings this season including a 96-96 victory as a 1 ½-point road favorite on March 21. The total went ?over? in two of the three games.
New York has the ability to make this series extremely interesting, but the Celtics? past playoff experience pays off with a series-clinching win in Game 7 in Boston.
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