New York Knicks fans may be fully buying into their team’s 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics, but oddsmakers aren’t just yet.
As of Thursday at 1 p.m. ET, the Celtics are still listed as the betting favorites to win the series on FanDuel Sportsbook despite their 2-0 series deficit. The reigning champions are listed at -112 (bet $112 to win $100) in the series market, while the Knicks are listed at -104 (bet $104 to win $100).
It isn’t difficult to see why the Celtics can still be considered the favorites.
For one, home-court advantage wasn’t that meaningful for them this season. They had a 33-8 record away from home and a 28-13 record at TD Garden. They also defeated the Orlando Magic in their most recent game away from home in the first round of the playoffs.
What’s more, they built 20-point leads in each of the first two contests against the Knicks before falling apart.
While New York deserves plenty of credit for completing the comeback, some of that can be attributed to shooting variance for a Boston team that is typically quite effective from deep. The Celtics shot 15-of-60 from three-point range in Game 1 and 10-of-40 in Game 2..
Despite that abysmal shooting at such a high volume, they lost in overtime in Game 1 and by a single point in Game 2.
If a few more of those three-pointers go down in Saturday’s Game 3, the tone of the entire series will shift. A change of scenery could also help Jayson Tatum and Co. avoid playing so tight down the stretch like they did in front of the anxious Boston fans.
All of the momentum is on the Knicks’ side at this point, but it is going to take more than just two early wins to eliminate the reigning champions. In fact, it will take more than two early wins to even make them underdogs.
