NBA playoffs, odds, lines, betting: Boston Celtics are rare underdogs in Game 6 at New York Knicks

The Boston Celtics kept their season alive in Game 5 on Wednesday night with a resounding 127-102 win over the New York Knicks in their first game without star Jayson Tatum, who was lost to a torn Achilles in Game 4.

To force a Game 7, the Celtics will have to win again in an unfamiliar situation for them over the past few years: as an underdog in the NBA playoffs.

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Boston is currently a 2.5-point underdog at BetMGM at Madison Square Garden for Friday night's Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. It's the first time in the 2025 NBA playoffs the Celtics have been an underdog and only the third time in their past 50 postseason games they haven't been favored.

The Celtics have been underdogs once in each of the past two postseasons — +2.5 at the Dallas Mavericks in Game 3 of the 2023 NBA Finals and +2 at the Miami Heat in Game 4 of 2023 Eastern Conference finals — and won both games outright. Both games also stayed under the total.

It's a very small sample size, of course — and in both of those games as underdogs the Celtics had Tatum playing — but it will be interesting to see if Boston can come through as an underdog again in a hostile MSG environment.

Bettors so far are backing the Knicks at BetMGM, with 67% of wagers on the Knicks moneyline at -145 odds and 72% of wagers on New York at -2.5.