The NBA returned from the All-Star break Thursday night with 24 of the league’s 30 teams in action.
The Knicks ended their four-game losing streak with a 110-96 win over the Joel Embiid-less 76ers, led by Bojan Bogdanovic’s 22 points and six 3-pointers. Strengthened by the returns of Donte DiVincenzo, Isaiah Hartenstein and Bogdanovic, the Knicks next face the league’s greatest challenge as the Celtics visit Madison Square Garden on Saturday for the first time since Boston’s season-opening win in New York.
Even if the Knicks bring back Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson before the postseason begins, the Celtics — who improved to a league-best 44-12 with their seventh straight win Thursday night in Chicago — remain their greatest hurdle to reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in a quarter-century.
While the Knicks are a trendy sleeper to win the Eastern Conference — the third-best odds, at +700, on DraftKings — the Celtics are nearly even-money (+115) to claim it and boast title odds (+260) nearly twice as strong as the defending champion Nuggets (+475).
