Knicks vs. Celtics prediction and odds for Sunday, March 5 (Value on total)

Arguably the hottest team in basketball travels to Boston to face arguably the best team in the league on Sunday night.

The New York Knicks have the NBA’s longest winning streak at eight games, including a win over the Celtics at home on Monday 109-94. They travel to Boston for a rematch as the Celtics are second in net rating this season and a half-game back of the No. 1 seed in the East.

This is a battle of two playoff teams with seeding implications on the line, here’s how we’re betting it:

Knicks vs. Celtics odds, spread and total

Knicks vs. Celtics prediction and pick

It’s worth noting that Jalen Brunson is questionable for this marquee matchup on Sunday night with a sore left and his status is crucial to the Knicks holding up against the Celtics.

However, I’m still going to side with the total between these two high powered offense that are each top five in offensive rating this season. The most recent meeting went under the total of 224.5 considerably, but this one is up two points and I expect the Celtics shooting to be far improved.

Boston hit only nine of their 42 three-point attempts against the Knicks last week and are on the heels of the biggest blown lead of the season, squandering a 28-point first half lead to the Brooklyn Nets when they blew a 28 point first half lead.

The Knicks will let the Celtics bomb away from three, allowing the third highest amount of shots from beyond the arc this season, and I expect some natural regression from the Boston snipers on Sunday night.

The Knicks got the better of the Celtics earlier this week, but Boston had some unfortunate shooting variance and Jayson Tatum was ejected for arguing with the officials, expect a refocused Celtics offense to have their way on Sunday night and for this to be a shootout between two elite offense.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.