Game Preview: New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers, March 3, 2024

Donovan Mitchell and his Cleveland Cavaliers, sitting pretty at 39-20, are set to roll out the wine and gold carpet for the New York Knicks (35-25) this Sunday. This marks round three of their regular-season matchups, with the scorecard deadlocked at 1-1.

Cleveland holds the silver medal spot in the Eastern Conference. They play defense that’s as tight as a drum, are rock solid rebounders, and are led by Donovan Mitchell. Spida is averaging 28 points per game, and career-bests of 6.2 assists and 5.4 rebounds. A knee ailment kept him out of Friday’s game but, dollars to donuts, he plays tonight.

Sharing his backcourt is Darius Garland. The 6’1”, 24-year-old has averaged 18.4 points, 6.1 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in an injury-shortened season. He is shooting a career best of 52% from two-point range, and 38% from deep.

Rounding out their backcourt: forward Max Strus has averaged 12.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in his first year in Ohio; and Cleveland’s twin towers, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, are both hauling down 10 rebounds a game.

With the Knicks short three key starters, their offense has been more miss than hit (e.g., the Warriors loss on Thursday). On top of that, Isaiah Hartenstein’s Achilles is singing the blues; Precious Achiuwa has returned to human form of late, after a long stretch of 40+ minute games; and although Jalen Brunson played on Thursday, he seemed slowed by the neck spasms that kept him out of the previous game. (Nonetheless, JB still managed 27 points. He’s a warrior.)

Shall I continue? Donte DiVincenzo has tried to do too much with the team shorthanded and made only six of 21 field-goal attempts on Thursday (including 2-of-12 from deep). Same goes for Josh Hart: starting in place of the rehabbing OG Anunoby, Josh grabbed an outstanding 18 rebounds, played an unreasonable 47 minutes, and shot a wince-inducing 4-of-17 from the floor on Thursday. Newcomer Bojan Bogdanović has averaged 13.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in the seven games since the Detroit trade, but his usefulness won’t be maximized until the other rotational pieces have returned (and his defense? bleeech). Fellow old newbie, Alec Burks has averaged 8.5 points and 0.9 assists in eight games over that span and shot a gnarly 32% from deep. Yes indeed, disappointments abound.

Prediction

ESPN.com gives the Knicks just a 26% chance to win. Sounds fair. Unless Donte and Josh regain some accuracy, iHart’s Achilles has improved, and Precious benefited from two days off, the depleted Knicks are sitting ducks for a Cleveland team that’s hungry for its 40th win. Perhaps this will be the game where Tom Thibodeau truly unleashes Deuce McBride, who’s salivating for his chance to score 30 and bite someone’s leg off at the knee? Or maybe Jericho Sims plays more minutes against those long-limbed Ohio Players and discovers his inner Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

We can hope. The Magic 8-Ball gives a gloomier prediction, however. Knicks by -10.

Game Details

Who: New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers

When: 7 pm EST, Sunday, March 3, 2024

Where: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, Ohio

Watch: ESPN and MSG Network

Follow: @ptknicksblog