The Knicks went into Rocket Arena on Saturday, beat the Cavs by 13, and walked out to 'Let's Go Knicks' chants from a road crowd that had been turned into a home crowd. Donovan Mitchell shrugged it off afterward — said as a New York kid himself it didn't shock him — but the actual basketball part has to. Cleveland was the 1-seed. They are 1 loss away from getting swept by 7 games in their building.
Jalen Brunson is just doing whatever he wants. 38 in Game 1, 14 assists in Game 2, 30 in Game 3. Josh Hart dropped a playoff-career-high 26 in Game 2. Mikal Bridges had 22 in Game 3, OG Anunoby had 21. New York is on a 10-game winning streak and the supporting cast is throwing punches every night. That is what a team that believes it's about to make the Finals looks like.
Mitchell has done his part — 26 and 24 the last two games — but he is essentially alone. James Harden has been a non-factor this series and the rest of the rotation hasn't shown up with any consistency. Kenny Atkinson's postgame take that the Cavs are 'analytically' winning 2 of the 3 games went over about as well as you'd expect with a fan base staring at 0-3. The shots may be there. The buckets aren't.
Pinnacle has the Knicks as 3-point road favorites with a -144 moneyline, which tells you the market does not believe Cleveland has a 'desperation game' bounce in them. The total sits at 218 — a Cavs team that needs to play with pace and force the action probably has to push this number to have a real chance. Sitting on a half-court grind has not worked through 3.
History is brutal here: 156 teams have gone down 0-3 in the NBA playoffs. 156 of them have lost the series. Cleveland either becomes the first to break that, or this is the last home game of a season that started with championship expectations. Tip is 8 PM ET.