NBA Over/Unders, Part 2: The East | with Zach Lowe and Joe House

Simmons, House, and Lowe run through every Eastern Conference team's over-under, and the conversation is less about which teams will be good and more about which ones will care enough to win regular-season games. The Knicks, Celtics, and Sixers all get picked apart with the same tension: these teams are built for the playoffs, but the regular season is a slog, and the East is deep enough that nobody is going to coast to 55 wins. The real question, for almost every team, is whether the incentives align with winning in the winter or just surviving until spring.

The Knicks and Celtics: Championship Hangover vs. Regular-Season Machine

The Knicks won the title, and history says that rarely leads to another dominant regular season. Simmons runs through the post-title hangover archetypes—the "disease of more," physical exhaustion, or a jump to another level—and leans toward the first, worried about extension drama and the new fame of the team. Lowe and House both take the under on 51.5, not because they think the Knicks are worse, but because the team has always been erratic in the regular season and now has a bullseye. House points out that every opponent treats a game against the champs like the biggest night of their month. All three agree the Knicks are the best team in the East; they just don't think the win total reflects that.