After dropping Game 3 to the Knicks on Friday night, the Cavaliers will look to bounce back and even the series up at two games apiece in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon. So far, the teams have traded wins in the series, with the Knicks winning the first and third games and the Cavs taking the second one. If that pattern continues, Cleveland will indeed tie the series up. In order to do that, they’ll need more from star guard Darius Garland, who had just 10 points in Game 3.
Meanwhile, the Knicks will be looking to protect their home court again and stretch their lead in the series to 3-1. They benefitted from a solid team effort in the last game, as they have five different players score at least 11 points.
Ahead of Game 4, here’s a look at the start time, viewing information, odds, storylines and a prediction for the contest.
(4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (5) New York Knicks
- Date: Sunday, April 23 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Location: Madison Square Garden — New York, New York
- TV channel: ABC | Live stream: fubo (try for free)
- Odds: Knicks -2.5; O/U 206.5 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Storylines
Cavaliers: There’s one stat from Game 3 that sticks out in a major way: In scoring just 79 points, the Cavaliers became the first team all season to score less than 80 points in a game, including the regular season. That’s crazy, and it shows just how much Cleveland struggled on the offensive end last game. In Game 4, the Cavs simply need to be better on that end of the floor. They’re not going to win any games scoring around 80 points per performance. It’s not like the Knicks are piling up tons of points themselves. They scored under 100 in two of the three games so far, and 101 in the third. If Cleveland can pick it up on offense, they’ll give themselves a solid shot at winning.
Knicks: The Knicks have a 2-1 lead despite the fact that Julius Randle hasn’t had the best series so far. He’s scored a total of just 52 points over the three games, and he’s struggled to be efficient, as he’s shot under 50 percent from the field in each game. He shot just 3 of 15 last game, and even though the Knicks were still able to pull out a win, they’re going to want to try to get Randle playing a bit better. Look for them to potentially run some additional sets to get him some solid looks early and often on Sunday afternoon.
Prediction
You have to think that the Cavs will be able to find a way to get Darius Garland going again. He did just drop 32 points in Game 2, after all. Also, after a Big Game 1 in which he scored 38 points, Donovan Mitchell has been relatively quiet for the past couple games, so he could also be due for a big performance. Pick: Cavaliers +2.5
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