The first game of this series came down to the wire, with the New York Knicks (49-36, 46-35-4 ATS) taking it 101-97. Since then, the teams have traded blowout wins, with the Cleveland Cavaliers (52-33, 43-38-4 ATS) winning game two and New York going up 2-1 after the third contest. Game three was ugly, with the score tied at 17 after the first quarter. It was a war to see which offense would wake up first, and the Knicks did, taking a 45-32 lead into halftime. Eventually, New York pushed it to 27 points, before both teams emptied the benches and readied for this game four on Sunday afternoon. Tipping off at 1:00 p.m. EDT, Madison Square Garden will display the NBA's best fanbase for the second straight game in this series.
GET ON UP THEN @jalenbrunson1 ?? pic.twitter.com/O0pLVGWPHJ
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) April 22, 2023
Defense was their calling card during the regular season, but Cleveland finished the regular season eighth in offensive rating. Their offense was ninth in effective field goal percentage, because of a 66.1% clip at the rim which was fifth. The Knicks are doing a great job at taking away quality looks in the paint, but the trade-off is a ton of open Cleveland looks from outside. They simply aren't falling.
To that point, Darius Garland finished the last game 4-21, including 1-7 from three. Donovan Mitchell finished 2-8 from deep. Caris LeVert went 3-11 from beyond the arc. LeVert had a hot stretch in the third where he hit four shots, including all three of his triples, but was otherwise a bricklayer. Cleveland's final field goal percent age was 38.8%, and their three-point percentage was 21.2%.
When the dust settled, the starting lineup committed 13 turnovers, and all finished with a +/- worse than -15 while on the court. They may have stymied New York's offense for 17 minutes, but once the defense cracked it was over.
That defense is undeniable though. The Knicks finished the year as a top-five team in offensive rating that averaged 116.0 points per game. Cleveland is holding them to 96.7 points per game through the first three matchups of this series. New York's shooting numbers are down, and their turnovers are up. Cleveland just needs to find the bottom of the net.