The Knicks managed to steal Game 1 on the road in Boston, making Game 2 even more intriguing. This is a breakdown of the public betting splits and the most popular player prop bets for the highly anticipated matchup.
Boston is a 10.5-point favorite over New York at DraftKings Sportsbook, with a total of 210.5 points.
Betting Splits
The Knicks were major underdogs entering this series against the Celtics. However, after stealing Game 1, the public is starting to believe in New York. One big factor in any NBA playoff series is which team has the best closer. There is almost nobody in basketball, let alone someone else in this series, that you would rather have than Jalen Brunson. Brunson hit some incredible shots down the stretch when the Celtics were struggling to get anything going offensively. That has shifted the perception of this series for the public, and now, the public is backing the Knicks to cover the large spread.
There are 64% of bets on DraftKings Sportsbook on the Knicks to cover the 10.5-point spread. Just 58% of the handle is on New York, meaning that bigger bettors are leaning more toward Boston in this game. It is not a surprise that public bettors are following what their eyes saw in Game 1, while bigger bettors are following the metrics that show the Celtics are still a much better team and their shooting numbers should drastically improve in this game. However, with only a 6% difference between the total bet percentage and the handle percentage, it is not an overwhelming lean toward the Celtics by bigger bettors.
The public is still leaning more toward the Celtics to win the game, with 60% of tickets on the Celtics to win Game 2. However, for a longshot underdog moneyline of +390, 40% of the public bet percentage is a lot. Bigger bettors are more confident in the Celtics to win as well, as 69% of the handle is on the Celtics’ moneyline. This is another unsurprising trend because with the Celtics as such big favorites, bettors need to wager more money to get a good return, compared to the Knicks’ moneyline, where a smaller bet could still get you a good payout.
When it comes to the total, bettors are heavily on the over, with 86% of the bets and 91% of the handle betting on this game to go over the low listed total. Game 1 went just over this number, totaling 213 points between the two teams. However, it took overtime for that game to get over 210.5. At the end of regulation, the game was tied 100-100, so without overtime, it would have gone under this number by 10.5 points. The Celtics are unlikely to have another shooting performance as poor as Game 1, so despite the lower scoring game, bettors are counting on the two teams to go over the total in Game 2.
Most Popular Player Props
Here are the most popular player prop bets at DraftKings Sportsbook for this matchup:
- Karl-Anthony Towns 20+ Points (+110)
- Jaylen Brown First Points Scorer (+350)
- Jayson Tatum 45+ Points (+2000)
- Jayson Tatum Triple Double- Yes (+1000)
- Jalen Brunson u6.5 Assists (-130)
Despite really struggling so far this postseason, the public is buying low on Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns to score 20 or more points is the most popular player prop bet on this game from the public. Towns averaged over 24 points per game in the regular season, so bettors are taking advantage of the plus-money price on Towns to get 20 points in this game. Bettors are also zagging from the “Big 2” of Jalen Brunson and Jayson Tatum to back Jaylen Brown to score the first points of the game. Despite those two being the big stars of this series, Jaylen Brown is the favorite to score the first points of the game because he leads the Celtics in that category this season.
Up next, the public is targeting Jayson Tatum to have a monster game. Tatum scored 23 points in Game 1 but was a non-factor in the fourth quarter and missed a lot of open three-pointers. The public is betting on him to have a bounceback performance and put on a show. They are betting on him to score 45 or more points at 20/1 odds. Tatum has only scored 45+ points in a playoff game three times in his career, most recently in 2023, but the public is taking a shot. In a slightly more realistic scenario, the public is betting on Tatum to record a triple-double at 10/1 odds. Tatum only has one career postseason triple-double, and that came last season against the Heat. Tatum does have double-digit rebounds in three of his past five games, but getting the assists numbers to double-digits would be the bigger challenge.
Finally, the public is betting on Jalen Brunson to have under 6.5 assists. Brunson did go under this number in Game 1, registering just five assists. However, Brunson went over this number in all six games against the Pistons in the previous series. He averaged 7.3 assists per game in the regular season and is averaging 8.2 assists per game so far this postseason. That makes this a risky bet from the public, but they are counting on the Celtics putting forward a perfect defensive performance after their loss in Game 1.
