Betting Picks For NBA Opening Night: Celtics Vs. Knicks, Lakers Vs. TWolves

Defending NBA Champions dominate on Opening Night.
The Boston Celtics are 5-point favorites against the New York Knicks.
The Los Angeles Lakers have +100 odds to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves.

BOSTON – The NBA season is back and there is a double header on Tuesday Night where the defending champion Boston Celtics are favorites over the New York Knicks while the Los Angeles Lakers are a home underdog to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

All in for the season to begin.
#KiaTipOff24 begins Tuesday, October 22. pic.twitter.com/oyEfyMluIr

— NBA (@NBA) October 3, 2024

Legal sports betting sites are backing two teams that had deep playoff runs and that were close to meeting each other in the NBA Finals.

Boston Celtics Vs. New York Knicks

Moneyline: Celtics (-210) vs. Knicks (+175)
Spread: Celtics -5 (-115)
Total: 223.0

There is plenty that goes into backing the Celtics NBA odds on opening night as they receive their Championship rings. First things first, defending champions have been on absolute fire on opening night since 2010 with an 11-3 record outright and the last three wins coming by 8+ points each time.

As for the history between the two, last season, the Cs went off on New York beating them in five games in the playoffs and in four of the five regular season games as well.

Boston’s chemistry will pretty much stay the same as they opted to run it back with the same roster. As for the Knicks, they made a late offseason trade having swapped Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle for Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota. It is inevitable that chemistry issues will be there for the Knicks, especially playing on the road in Boston where the Celtics went a league best 37-4 at home.

Pick: Celtics -5

Los Angeles Lakers Vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

Moneyline: Timberwolves (-120) vs. Lakers (+100)
Spread: Timberwolves -1 (-115)
Total: 223.0

The Timberwolves and Lakers were two of the better offenses in the league last season and it could carry over into opening night. Both teams combined last season for 231 ppg last season. Against their point totals last season, they both ranked in the top five hitting Overs last season as well.

The Lakers should have no issues putting up points at home being that they are also bringing back the same roster and also added one of the top rookies in the class in Dalton Knecht who was one of the highest scorers in all of college basketball last season at nearly 22 ppg.

Minnesota’s offense, on the other hand, got a bit of a face lift after the KAT trade. They replaced Towns’ 19.1 ppg last season for a combined 41.8 ppg from Randle and DiVincenzo. All in all, there should be no shortage of offense in this one.

Pick: Over 223

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Sam Profeta

Samuel has been writing professionally for 4 years. He comes from a sports writing background where he enjoys writing mostly about basketball and football both professional and collegiate. He is a recent graduate of Florida State University where he majored in Editing, Writing and Media with a minor in Communications. During his free time, you can find him watching or playing sports as well as playing videogames and listening to music.