NBA Picks & Predictions: Cavaliers vs. Knicks (Thursday)
The Eastern Conference Finals continue with Game 2 in New York. The Knicks pulled off Game 1 in a stunning comeback to force overtime and win. Cleveland will look to bounce back here and even the series before heading to Cleveland. Let's take a look at the matchup and our top NBA picks.
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Thursday’s Best NBA Picks & Predictions
(Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)
Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks
For a good portion of Tuesday night's Game 1, Cleveland looked like the sharper and crisper team. They built up a 22-point lead about midway through the fourth quarter when the wheels fell off. To get back into this series, they'll have to dig down and get back to the team they were when they beat Detroit in seven games.
Cleveland wasn’t really able to get to the free-throw line much in this game. They were perfectly content with shooting the deep threes New York was allowing. The Cavaliers had 50 three-point attempts in Game 1, hitting them at only a 32% clip.
Although Cleveland is a good shooting team, and New York gives up a fair amount of three-pointers, Cleveland will need to look to even up the points in the paint, as they did in their regular-season matchups.
On Tuesday night, New York scored 60 points in the paint to Cleveland's 38. This was a far cry from the 128-128 total over their three regular-season matchups.
Defensively, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen need to do a better job protecting the rim as they did in the Detroit series. Offensively, Mobley took 16 shots, but eight of those were from deep, where he shot 29.7% on the season, averaging 3.2 three-point attempts per game.
I expect Cleveland to look for the best shots available and get their bigs involved early in this one. That might mean some slower possessions and trading three-pointers for two-pointers. While these teams try to feel things out again, the first quarter looks to be an underplay.
Additionally, we should expect a bounce-back game from James Harden. He scored 15 points on terrible efficiency. His six turnovers eclipsed his assists (three) and field goals (five). Harden had some rough games to start the series in Detroit, but eventually broke out as the series progressed. I expect something similar here.
Cleveland will put an extra emphasis on getting to the paint and attacking the rim. This should increase their free-throw attempts, slow the game and give Cleveland a chance to dictate the terms.
The Cavaliers dominated most of Game 1 until their outside shooting got cold. They've been the more battle-tested team this playoffs, so I expect a big bounce back on Thursday.
Picks: First-Quarter Under 52.5 Points (-108) & Cavaliers +6.5 (-114)