A top-three battle takes place in Cleveland on Wednesday when the Eastern Conference’s third-seeded New York Knicks (48-27) travel south to play the Cavaliers (60-15) inside Rocket Arena.
The Knicks are locked into the playoffs, having secured a top-three seed for the playoffs. New York has won five of their past six games, beating two teams that will certainly make the postseason later this month.
Cleveland has already clinched their division, but the Cavs can claim the top seed throughout the playoffs by continuing their winning ways. After a four-game losing skid last month, Cleveland has rebounded to win four of their past five outings.
With two games over the next nine days, will Cleveland continue its season sweep over New York? We’ll cover that as well as our three favorite player prop bets for Wednesday’s game.
In most seasons, Cleveland shooting guard Donovan Mitchell would be a top-five vote-getter for the MVP race. He’s leading the Eastern Conference’s best team, scoring 24.0 points, grabbing 4.5 rebounds, and dishing out 4.9 assists per game this season.
Still, we’re taking the under for Mitchell’s player prop bet because of who he’s facing. Josh Hart missed the second contest against the Cavs, and Mitchell went crazy from behind the three-point line, hitting five of his seven shots.
With Hart in the lineup, Mitchell did come close to this player prop bet early in the season, but the 6-foot-3 guard needed extra shots and free throws to do it. Expect Hart to keep Mitchell in check tonight, preventing him from exceeding the 32 combined points and assists needed to cover.
The Knicks swung for the fences this year, acquiring center Karl-Anthony Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves. This season, he’s rewarded that decision by scoring 24.3 points and grabbing 12.8 rebounds, stats that rank among the top 13 in the league this year.
He’s not been successful going up against the Cavaliers, however. In two games against the Eastern Conference leaders, he’s averaging 18.0 points per contest despite hitting over 50 percent of his field goals.
Expect that he’ll continue to fall short of his points per game average with Cavs forward Evan Mobley’s elite defense in this contest.
Cleveland acquired small forward De’Andre Hunter this winter as the team is attempting to win their second NBA Championship – and first without LeBron James. Hunter has been strong this season, scoring 17.0 points in his sixth NBA season.
Hunter has been a threat the Knicks haven’t slowed down this season. Against New York in three games (including two with his previous team, Atlanta), he’s hit at least four three-point shots against the Knicks. Expect him to continue that trend and at least knock down two trifectas in tonight’s game.
After a close first meeting, the Cavaliers demolished New York in February with a 142-105 decision. The game was never close as Cleveland continued its domination after the NBA All-Star break.
This game will not be close, either. Expect the Cavs to blow out the Knicks, making short work of the Eastern Conference foe to cover the spread.