Don't be so quick to ride the streaking Knicks ...

be quicker to fade this situational nightmare for the Boston Celtics... 

This year, the Celtics are 1-5 ATS in games following ones where they beat their opponent by 15+ points or more.  The opponents? A cavalcade of teams not nearly as imposing as the New York Knicks at home.  First the lone ATS victory, a 105-89 home game vs the Denver Nuggets, a team coming off a B2B, playing their 5th game in 8 nights and without Caremlo Anthony.

Now the ATS losses ..

home vs Milwaukee

home vs Oklahoma City without Durant and Jeff Green

home vs New Jersey

home vs Portland

@ Philadelphia

Portland is arguably better than NY, but the Blazers on the road where they are 5-10?  Not as good as the Knicks at home.

And before you shred this trend as a fluke for 2010, bear in mind that in the same situation as highlighted above including last season, the Celtics are 5-16 ATS (2-5 on the road).  Going one step further, of those 21 games, the Celtics were favored in 17 of those games.  Effectively, they are following up a blow out win, by narrowly escaping defeat at the hands of teams who on paper are inferior as indictated by the number of instances the Celtics were heavily favored.

Now to tonight where it's mid-December and we finally have a meaningful game at the Garden.  The Knicks are streaking and for those who are discounting their recent run based on the opponents they have played, clearly have not been following this team over the years.  These are games not only they would lose, but ones where they would get thrashed.  Let's all accept that this is a different team ... a good team .. a team who is showing a bit swagger and will be playing at home to a sold out crowd who has been waiting for a game like this for years.

The Knicks are not better than the Celtics.  Period.  But a confident Knicks team at home playing vs. a Celtics team on the road who clearly lays down in situational spots as they will face tonight, the talent gap is significnatly reduced.

Finally, seems Paul Pierce has grown accustom to mocking the Knicks and letting his team just show up, put forth minimal effort and still blow out the Knicks.  And while he is speaking complete truth,  he's adding fuel to the fire vs. a team who is not Eddy Curry, Rolando Blackman and Trent Tucker.  I hope Rony Turiaf introduces Pierce to the new-look Knicks as he heads down the lane for what use to be an easy bucket.

New York Knicks +4 (will add more if it stay here or goes up)

New York Knicks ML (waiting for better number, which will come)

 I suggest it closes at about +180 (4.5 or 5.0 spread)

be quicker to fade this situational nightmare for the Boston Celtics... 

This year, the Celtics are 1-5 ATS in games following ones where they beat their opponent by 15+ points or more.  The opponents? A cavalcade of teams not nearly as imposing as the New York Knicks at home.  First the lone ATS victory, a 105-89 home game vs the Denver Nuggets, a team coming off a B2B, playing their 5th game in 8 nights and without Caremlo Anthony.

Now the ATS losses ..

home vs Milwaukee

home vs Oklahoma City without Durant and Jeff Green

home vs New Jersey

home vs Portland

@ Philadelphia

Portland is arguably better than NY, but the Blazers on the road where they are 5-10?  Not as good as the Knicks at home.

And before you shred this trend as a fluke for 2010, bear in mind that in the same situation as highlighted above including last season, the Celtics are 5-16 ATS (2-5 on the road).  Going one step further, of those 21 games, the Celtics were favored in 17 of those games.  Effectively, they are following up a blow out win, by narrowly escaping defeat at the hands of teams who on paper are inferior as indictated by the number of instances the Celtics were heavily favored.

Now to tonight where it's mid-December and we finally have a meaningful game at the Garden.  The Knicks are streaking and for those who are discounting their recent run based on the opponents they have played, clearly have not been following this team over the years.  These are games not only they would lose, but ones where they would get thrashed.  Let's all accept that this is a different team ... a good team .. a team who is showing a bit swagger and will be playing at home to a sold out crowd who has been waiting for a game like this for years.

The Knicks are not better than the Celtics.  Period.  But a confident Knicks team at home playing vs. a Celtics team on the road who clearly lays down in situational spots as they will face tonight, the talent gap is significnatly reduced.

Finally, seems Paul Pierce has grown accustom to mocking the Knicks and letting his team just show up, put forth minimal effort and still blow out the Knicks.  And while he is speaking complete truth,  he's adding fuel to the fire vs. a team who is not Eddy Curry, Rolando Blackman and Trent Tucker.  I hope Rony Turiaf introduces Pierce to the new-look Knicks as he heads down the lane for what use to be an easy bucket.

New York Knicks +4 (will add more if it stay here or goes up)

New York Knicks ML (waiting for better number, which will come)

thanks fellas ..

Muggsy, would love to see 5

This year, the Celtics are 1-5 ATS in games following ones where they beat their opponent by 15+ points or more.  The opponents? A cavalcade of teams not nearly as imposing as the New York Knicks at home.  First the lone ATS victory, a 105-89 home game vs the Denver Nuggets, a team coming off a B2B, playing their 5th game in 8 nights and without Caremlo Anthony.

Now the ATS losses ..

home vs Milwaukee

home vs Oklahoma City without Durant and Jeff Green

home vs New Jersey

home vs Portland

@ Philadelphia

Now to tonight where it's mid-December and we finally have a meaningful game at the Garden.  The Knicks are streaking and for those who are discounting their recent run based on the opponents they have played, clearly have not been following this team over the years.  These are games not only they would lose, but ones where they would get thrashed.