Boston Celtics fans might not want to read this, but the New York Knicks are heading home with a 2-0 lead in the series. The Celtics have blown two-straight fourth-quarter leads, leading to some unfortunate results to this point.
Will they bounce back in Game 3 and show signs of life and demonstrate that they deserve to be in the conversation to go back-to-back? We’ll soon see.
Leading up to the game, we’ve put our favorite player props together from Underdog, hoping to leave the weekend with some extra cash in our pockets. Let’s dive in!
Jayson Tatum might as well have been on a milk carton during the first two games of the series, because he’s been quiet as a church mouse to this point.
The Celtics have needed him to step up and score a bunch of points when it’s mattered most, but he hasn’t delivered. We’re expecting this star player to rewrite the narrative in Game 3, putting up 30+ points and bringing the Celtics back in the series.
They’ll have a tough time winning if Tatum has another bad game, and this team is far too good to lose three in a row, so he should deliver and score at least 28 points to cash his over.
Jalen Brunson, the Knicks’ top scorer, also had a down performance in Game 2. That lent itself nicely to Josh Hart having a massive performance, putting up 22 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
His 22 points were far above his season average of 13.6 points per game, and with Brunson almost certain to bounce back, we don’t like his chances of scoring much in this one.
He could have a fair number of rebounds and assists, but because of our low projection for him in the scoring column, we’re fading his PRA total, at least in this game.
As we mentioned above, Jalen Brunson is due for another big game, and we think he’ll deliver in this one. He and Tatum haven’t provided the type of duel we’ve expected to this point.
However, Game 3 might be the perfect time for it, considering how poorly the Celtics have closed out games this series. We’re expecting Brunson to keep up with the Joneses, so to speak, scoring at least 27 points to cash this over, keeping the Knicks competitive throughout.