New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics

 

In the first round of the playoffs, we see many exciting match ups across the league.  New York vs Boston might just be the best of the first round though!  The Knicks managed to finish in that last home court spot in the east and will have home court advantage over the Celtics in the first round.   The Knicks finished with an impressive 57 � 25 record, while the Celtics finished with a 51 � 31 record.  

 

New York Knicks: 57-25 Record

The Knicks have been extremely active this season, with the roster they enter the post season with being vastly different to the roster they entered the season with.  Jimmy Butler is likely the biggest name we see leave the Knicks during the course of the season however, the return brought in key players who have contributed to the Knicks success such as Marcus Smart.  The Knicks struck gold early in the season when they traded for Walker Kessler who has become a key player for them.

 

Boston Celtics: 51 � 31 Record

The Celtics flicked the switch and have gone the direction of winning games! They�ve been extremely tough to play all year long and as they should be with players such as Jayson Tatum and Darius Garland leading the way.  The Celtics have a legitimate star pairing under the age of 25 and are going to be a tough out in this series.  They match up quite well with the Knicks so it�s going to be a fun watch!

 

The Matchups:

 

Projected Centre Matchup: Mason Plumlee vs James Wiseman

 

 

 

This is an interesting battle, you got a big 7-foot veteran big man who is more than capable of holding his own on the offensive side of the ball, going against a young up and coming, athletic big who can get it done on both ends due to his athleticism and physical traits. 

 

If there is anything, we know about 2k, it is that they love athletic big men with good physical traits.  For that reason alone, I think the edge here has to be given to James Wiseman, and I think this could be a key matchup for the Celtics that they need to win.

 

Projected PF Matchup: Julius Randle vs Bismack Biyombo

Julius Randle was a mid-season acquisition by the Knicks, which saw them send out a whole bunch of pieces that it�s actually really hard to figure out what the exact value was.  Randle was a fantastic grab for the Knicks in a position that it is really hard to find production from a �true PF� and not a glitchy C playing the 4 spot.

 

I honestly had no idea that Bis was on the Celtics roster, I think he will do a good job as he is an athletic rebounding smaller big.  I think the advantage here has to be given to Julius Randle though.

 

Projected SF Matchup: Kawhi Leonard vs Jayson Tatum

This could be argued to be the best player matchup of the first round! What a fight this is going to be.  Both players are fantastic on both ends of the floor. Again, we see a slight edge on either side of the ball though.  Kawhi has the edge on the defensive end of the ball and Tatum gets the edge on the offensive side of the ball.  For some reason Kawhi�s numbers are down a little in the scoring department, if Smokey manages to unleash him a bit more in this series, it could be the key to advancing!  I predict that Kawhi will win this match up.

 

 

 

Projected SG Matchup: Demar Derozan vs Lu Dort

Everywhere you look in this first round match up there is fantastic individual player matchups.  Demar is an absolute 2k wonder kid, no way around it, if he gets going it could really be a short series, the shot making he provides inside the arc while bringing the athleticism and attacking the rim is a handful for ever a defender like Lu Dort.  Dort is a fantastic defensive player who can make life difficult on even the best perimeter players, the biggest surprise with Dort is how well he contributes offensively, albeit inefficient he gets the job done on that end as well. I think once again I�m going to give this matchup to the Knicks and Demar.

 

Projected PG Matchup: Marcus Smart vs Darius Garland

Another stellar matchup, we have a contrast in the style of PG here.  Marcus Smart the defensive ace and reigning DPOY from the NBA vs the shift playmaking maestro that Darius Garland has now become.  I think Darius will find Smart�s size and defensive acumen quite bothersome in this matchup, I believe he will still be very effective, but not as we would normally see.  As long as Smart keeps the ball hopping around, I think he wins this matchup, if the ball starts to stick with smart and not make it to the likes of DeMar and Kawhi, I think Darius wins this matchup.  I can see it going either way!

 

 

The bench mob:

Knicks Bench: Josh Hart, Cole Anthony, Bobby Portis, Terance Mann, Jose Alvarado

Celtics Bench: Kevin Porter Jnr, Terry Rozier, Alperen Sengun, Kenyon Martin Jr, Jonathon Kuminga

 

These teams are quite evenly matched the whole way down their rosters, even 5 deep into their benches!  Both benches have shot creators, rebounding bigs, athleticism and youth.  The bench mobs are going to be vital to who wins this series, as for who I would give the edge too? I think I might actually go Boston, I don�t feel great about it, but the slight edge in athleticism is what got me there.  I think this is going to be a fantastic matchup in the series.

 

Prediction:

 

This could very well be the best series of the first round, in fact I�m picking it to be the best series.  Both teams have stars, both teams have role players, both teams have an identity and both teams have depth.  I believe this series will go the distance and New York will come out victorious in 7 games and advance to the second round. 

 

Demar Derozan will be the player of the series for the Knicks.

 

 

 

Side Note:

Both teams have had a fantastic season and it�s been even better seeing Boston push the chips in a little and go hard for the playoffs.  Both teams have something to build on into next season and should be happy with where they�re at right now!

 

Best of luck Gentlemen.