Mikal Bridges is averaging 43.2 minutes in this series. He produces significantly better offensive numbers at home. With Boston focused on slowing Jalen Brunson, I bet on Bridges to bounce back and score at least 15 points.

Jaylen Brown snapped his shooting slump with game five’s outburst from the field. When he is knocking down his jumpers, New York does not have a main defender that can stop him. Look for Brown to attack in the same way as game five with outside jumpers that turn into slashes to the basket. In another win or go home game look for Brown to excel in the points department. Play his over.

The Celtics might feel that they're really up 5-0 in this series. In each of the preceding games, Boston has forged double-digit leads, as high as 31 points, though in three of those games they blew the lead. Not in Game 5, however, as the Celtics rolled 127-102 to stay alive, and did so minus Jayson Tatum. Who, in truth, was probably hurting the Celtics more than helping down the stretch in the earlier losses in this series, as even when scoring 42 in game 4, he was on the floor and missing shots as the Knicks rallied. A for New York, its offense has functioned mostly in spurts, and prone to some poor efforts like the 35% FG shooting on Wednesday. Play Celtics

We took Boston ATS in Game 5 because we were confident in their ability to step up in one or two game situations and fill the absence of Jayson Tatum. Their point differential in games without Tatum is over +13.5 and basically 4 points better than with Tatum, albeit in a much smaller sample size. They can't expect Luke Kornet to go off with anywhere near 10 pts, 9 reb, and 7 blocks again but they can expect the combination of Kornet and Kristaps Porzingis (God awful in game 5) to have 12 pts, 8 reb, and 3 blocks off the bench, which is great backup center production. All the pressure in the world is still on NY and none is on Boston.

Mitchell Robinson dominated the glass in Game 5, hauling in 13 rebounds. The Knicks needed him to step up with Karl-Anthony Towns battling foul trouble early. With that big performance, the over on this number comes with added juice. However, Robinson has grabbed at least seven rebounds in all five games against the Celtics. With the Celtics best rebounder in Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out, I like Robinson to grab at least seven rebounds again.

Despite Jayson Tatum (Achilles) being out, the Celtics took care of business at home and won Game 5. Now all the pressure is on the Knicks, who need to win Game 6 at home to avoid a Game 7 in Boston. The Knicks couldn’t get much going on offense in Game 5, shooting 35.8% from the field. Meanwhile, the Celtics made 22 three-pointers and shot 52.4% from the field. To top it off, Karl-Anthony Towns was limited by foul trouble and Jalen Brunson actually fouled out. With the Knicks doing a better job of staying out of foul trouble and shooting better at home, I like them to close out the Celtics with a win in Game 6.

This is already a low combo line for Jrue Holiday, especially considering his playing time and usage is set to increase after Jayson Tatum suffered a serious injury. I expect Holiday to play upwards of 40+ minutes if he is able to stay out of foul trouble. Jrue is also a capable rebounder and he will need to provide Boston with a well rounded game if the C’s hope to force a Game 7.

It's taken until the past three games but scorelines have definitively been on the rise in this series. The past two (Games 4 & 5) in particular have easily cleared the posted number, which has risen slightly to the 210 range tonight. No matter, as Boston's offense has started to click with three-pointers falling a bit more consistently as they did during the regular season; the Celtics have scored 115, 113, and 127 in succession, the latter even without Jayson Tatum, whose absence seems to be addressed by Derrick White comfortably stepping into a featured scoring role alongside Jaylen Brown. Knicks-Celtics hit 223 or higher in all four regular-season meetings, too, so tonight's 210 hardly looks a daunting hurdle to clear. Play Celtics-Knicks Over

Caesar’s. I like the value on Payton Pritchard’s points and assists line for Game 6. The point guard is coming off a 20 P+A performance in Game 5, despite only shooting 6/17 and converting 3/8 potential assists. Without Jayson Tatum, and with Kristaps Porzingis not being able to contribute much, Pritchard should once again find himself to be a focal point offensively. He was on the floor for 39 minutes in Game 5, and I expect his minutes to stay sky-high. He’s cleared this line in 7/10 games this season without Tatum, when playing just 26+ minutes. I’m also expecting the Knicks to switch up their coverages on Derrick White - expecting Pritchard to continue to find solid volume from long range.

This line keeps steaming up and with good reason. Obviously with Jayson Tatum out, every starter for the Celtics needs to play at least 32 minutes, if not nearly 40. There are 25 to 30 FGAs that need to be re-distributed for Boston when you factor Jayson Tatum’s absence and Kristaps Porzingis’ inability to do anything...this becomes intriguing. We are getting a good buy low price because Jrue Holiday has been ultra focused on defending Jalen Brunson but he still managed 14 big points in Game 5 on just 8 FGAs. his should be a situation where Holiday is back at the 9 attempt level and he can go over 10.5 even with below average efficiency given half of his shots will be threes.

Good for the Celtics in winning Game 5 without Jayson Tatum to save their season temporarily. But that was probably all adrenaline from the home crowd ... and clearly the New York players somewhat took things for granted. I believe reality without Tatum kicks in big time back at Madison Square Garden for Boston on Friday. It's the Knicks' biggest home game in 25 years. So maybe give the good seats to a true regular fan and not a Kardashian/Jenner ...

This has Jalen Brunson written all over it. He won't have to contend with Jayson Tatum's length on switches and won't have another down game after foul trouble got in his head in Game 5. This is his moment and the Knicks have dominated crunch time all series. Even when they fall behind, the Celtics know they can come back and beat them. It's one thing to play one great game without your best player ... but staving off elimination again, and this time on the road, is something else. At this price, I have to take the better fourth-quarter team and the healthier team.