Cleveland had home court advantage in the palm of its hands on Tuesday, up 22 points in the fourth quarter. The defense was playing great, but New York made an adjustment to turn up the dial on the Brunson Burner and escaped with the 115-104 win in overtime.
Thursday’s Game 2 was a completely different script. The Knicks shot 52% from the field while holding the Cavaliers to 39%. New York dished out 32 assists and scored 18 more points in the paint.
After a rough Game 1 in which he was a -23 in 31 minutes, Josh Hart came back with a fury in Game 2, leading the team with 26 points on 10-of-21 shooting while also contributing four rebounds, seven assists and two steals, good for a +18 in 33 minutes.
That said, it’s still only two games and all New York has done is protect home court. The series now shifts back to Cleveland, where the Cavaliers were 27-14 during the regular season. During the playoffs, Cleveland is 6-1 at home. New York was 22-19 away from MSG during the regular season and 4-1 during the playoffs.
With the matchup set, DraftKings Sportsbook has listed opening odds for Game 3 of this series, which takes place Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. The Cavaliers enter as 2.5-point favorites with -135 odds to win on the moneyline. The Knicks are +114 underdogs with the game total set at 213.5 combined points.
