Knicks vs Celtics Picks & Predictions, Plus Best Odds & Betting Splits for Game 5

• The Boston Celtics’ season is on life support heading into a must-win Game 5 without Jayson Tatum
• Up 3-1 in the best-of-seven, the New York Knicks remain underdogs to close out the series on the road tonight
• See the Knicks vs Celtics picks and predictions for Game 5 plus the best available odds.

The Boston Celtics (66-25, 31-15 home, 42-48-1 ATS) suffered two major blows on Monday night, losing Game 4 to the New York Knicks (58-34, 29-17 away, 47-44-1 ATS) to fall in a 3-1 hole and watching six-time All-Star Jayson Tatum (28.1 PPG, RPG, 5.4 APG posteason) suffer a season-ending Achilles tear. Yet, hope remains; shorthanded Boston remains the favorite in the Knicks/Celtics Game 5 odds. Wednesday’s NBA odds position the C’s as 4.5-point home chalk.

Game 5 tips off at TD Garden at 7:10 pm ET with TNT providing the broadcast coverage. Below, see my favorite Knicks vs Celtics Game 5 picks, plus the best available NYK/BOS odds (spread, moneyline, and total), plus the Knicks/Celtics public betting splits for tonight’s game.

New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics Picks & Prediction

• Celtics first-half -2.5 (-130) at FanDuel
• Jaylen Brown 35+ points (+525) at BetMGM

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Sascha Paruk’s NBA playoff betting record: 12-17 (-1.5 units). All wagers one unit unless expressly stated otherwise.

No one is going to argue that the Celtics are a better team without Jayson Tatum on the floor. But they have responded very well to injury adversity this season. Tatum missed nine regular-season games and the C’s went 7-2 straight-up, including a 7-0 record at home and a 6-1 record when Jaylen Brown was in the lineup.

Boston has actually won the first half by nine or more points in all four games of the series so far. It’s not slow starts that have killed this team. On average, they’ve held a 14.5-point lead after 24 minutes of action. I don’t expect that trend to reverse tonight as Boston heads home in a 3-1 hole.

In addition to betting the Celtics to cover modest 2.5-point first-half spread, I’m also very bullish on Jaylen Brown’s point total on Wednesday night, which has been jacked up from 22.5 ahead of Game 4 all the way to 25.5 ahead of Game 5. In the seven regular-season games that Brown played without Tatum this season, he averaged just 22.9 PPG, exceeding 25.5 in only three of those seven games. But I take Game 2 against the Magic in round one – which Tatum missed with a wrist injury – as more indicative of what bettors can expect from Brown on Wednesday night. He jacked up a team-high 19 shots that night, hitting 12 (including 5-of-7 from three) and scoring a team-high 36 points against a very good Orlando defense.

Brown’s shot has been off against the Knicks; he’s connecting at just 37.7% though Games 1 to 4, but he’s coming off his best showing in the series last time out, scoring 20 points on 7-of-16 from the floor. And he’s a total homer when it comes to his splits. Brown averaged 24.5 PPG at home during the regular season with a 36.8% three-point percentage compared to just 19.4 PPG on the road with a 26.8 3P%.

Best Available Odds for Knicks v Celtics Game 5

The Knicks/Celtics spread ranges from Boston -4.5 to -5.0. The best Celtics ATS price is currently -4.5 (-110) at ESPN Bet while the best Knicks ATS price is +5.0 at either Caesars or bet365.

Bet365 also has the longest odds on a straight-up New York victory at +160. DraftKings has the best odds on Boston winning straight-up at -175.

The game total is 207.5 at almost all sportsbooks. The lone exception is FanDuel, which has bumped it up half a point to 208.0. The teams hit the over by half a point in Game 1 (212.5) and then stayed 30 points under in Game 2 (91-90 NYK against a total of 209.0) and half a point under in Game 3 (115-93 BOS against a total of 208.5. In Game 4, they smashed the over, combining for 234 points against a total of 208.5 (121-113 NYK).

NYK vs BOS Public-Betting Splits for Game 5

NBA public betting splits as of 12:35 pm ET, May 14.

The Knicks/Celtics betting trends for Game 5 show the public strong backing the visitors, both against the spread and on the moneyline. New York is getting 66% of ATS handle on 72% of ATS wagers. The Knicks have also received a stunning 88% of moneyline handle as +160 road underdogs on 78% of the ML tickets.

The public has an even stronger take on the total, putting 96% of O/U money and 96% of O/U wagers on over 207.5 so far.

The winner of the Knicks/Celtics series – which currently favor NYK at _ – will move onto face the #4 Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference final of the NBA playoff bracket. Indiana upset top-seeded Cleveland in just five games and is now a +650 bet in the 2025 NBA championship odds.