If you missed the game last night between the Spurs and Thunder, I feel sorry for you. There have been some reasonable complaints about the games, and some overblown, but last night was good, fun basketball. There was greatness from Victor Wembanyama, surprising performances from Alex Caruso and so much more. The Cavs and Knicks have a lot of work to do if they want to match the double-overtime performance from last night.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are probably tired. This is the 15th playoff game the team will have played. Both of their first two series went the full distance, with the Cavs unable to get separation from their opponent. However, Cleveland persevered and won both series and now has just one more to win to reach the NBA Finals. This will be quite a challenge for the Cavaliers, but they do seem somewhat locked in at the moment, having won four of the past five games.
How can the Cavs pull off an upset tonight, and in the series for that matter? Donovan Mitchell has to be the best player in the series. Jalen Brunson and he should cancel each other out, for the most part. Jarrett Allen will need to be a beast on the glass and disrupt Karl-Anthony Towns’ newfound playmaking. And, most of all, James Harden needs to be reliable. He averaged under 20 points per game against Detroit and just 6.3 assists. That is three points fewer and two assists fewer than in the regular season.
The New York Knicks are the clear favorite to win the Eastern Conference, and after their performance against Philadelphia, it is easy to understand. They’ve played 10 games this postseason and are 8-2. Their two losses have been by a total of two points. Their wins haven’t even been that close. Their wins have been by 11, 16, 29, 51, 39, 6, 14 and 30. Seven wins by double digits, and four by 29 or more points. The Knicks have been fantastic this postseason.
So with all the success, do the Knicks need to change anything in order to win this series? It is hard to say that they can improve. Brunson has been great, the defense has been excellent, Towns has been a playmaker, and they swept the 76ers without OG Anunoby playing the full series. He is now back, and that should spell some problems for the Cavs. I do think that Anunoby’s scoring could be the key to this series. If we assume Brunson and Mitchell cancel each other, and Towns against Allen and Mobley is a good matchup, Anunoby can be the difference maker against Max Strus.
There is always going to be a question of rest vs. rust. The Knicks have the rest advantage, having not played since May 10. The Cavs ran out of gas against the Pistons in Game 1 of the series after playing a Game 7. They were lucky to have a sweat-free Game 7 on Sunday. This game really could go either way if the Knicks come out flat.
The play in this one is to take the Cavs in the first quarter of the game at +1.5. The Knicks could struggle out of the gate. The Cavs are in a good rhythm at the moment, and they have already shown they can play well after a Game 7. I’ll take Cleveland in the first quarter, but I do think they could fade as the game goes on.
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