Cleveland and New York will try to take another step toward locking up their exact seeding in the Eastern Conference playoffs when they square off on Friday night. The Knicks are four games back of the Cavaliers and 2.5 games ahead of Brooklyn for the No. 5 seed, while Cleveland is in fourth place, sitting 2.5 games behind Philadelphia. Cleveland won the first meeting between these teams, but New York has won the two since then.
New York has been struggling with consistency since the middle of February when it began a nine-game winning streak that concluded with a double-overtime win at Boston. The Knicks lost six of their following nine games, but they have responded with wins against Houston and Miami. They are 2.5 games ahead of Brooklyn for fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings and can clinch a playoff spot with a win on Friday night. However, New York is unlikely to move up in the standings due to Cleveland sitting four games ahead of them with five games remaining. Immanuel Quickley poured in a career-high 40 points against Houston on Monday in place of Jalen Brunson, who missed his second straight game with a bruised right hand.
The fellas turned ?? in the second half ?? pic.twitter.com/PePsRZNCdh
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 30, 2023
Quickley stepped up again on Friday, scoring 24 points off the bench in a game where Brunson returned to the lineup. Leading scorer Julius Randle sprained his ankle while landing on the foot of Miami forward Bam Adebayo in the second quarter, leaving him out for the remainder of the regular season. Randle is averaging 25.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, so his absence is going to be a big blow. Brunson is the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 23.6 points per game. New York ranks No. 13 in the NBA in scoring (115.4) and is facing a Cleveland defense that leads the league in points allowed per game (106.7).
No House Advantage: Bet on player over/unders VS THE HOUSE to 21x your bet OR play in PICK 'EM contests against other people! Click here to get a 1st deposit match up to $100 1st w/ promocode WandW!