Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks

Since falling into a 2-1 series deficit against the Hawks, the Knicks have been on an absolute heater. New York has won seven consecutive games to finish off Atlanta and sweep Philadelphia, and it did so with margin. The Knicks won those games by an average of over 26 points per game, with only one game being decided by single digits.

The dominance of the conference has left New York with plenty of time to rest up for this series, last playing on May 10th. While the Knicks got a few days of rest between the last rounds, this break was much more valuable with OG Anunoby recovering from a hamstring injury, and now in position to return after getting nearly two weeks to heal.

The scenario for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden is set up rather similar to Game 1 of the last round. The 76ers were off a massive Game 7 road win in Boston, and had to turn around and go on the road to begin a new series less than 48 hours later. The Knicks wound up winning that game by 39 points.

Now we have the Cavs, who are off not one, but two series’ that’ve gone the distance. Cleveland won both Game 7’s to get here, including a huge road win in Detroit less than 48 hours ago. Now the Cavs will have to go back on the road to begin a series against a very fresh and very talented Knicks squad.

Sure, maybe being off over a week leaves the Knicks a little rusty in the early going. Maybe the Cavs can carry some Game 7 momentum into the first six minutes of this game. A strong start by the Cavs wouldn’t surprise me at all, but the longer this game wears on, the more it favors the Knicks. Outside of the first quarter, which could be tighter, I’m on board with backing New York any way you want to.

Ultimately, I landed on the double result — building a Same Game Parlay with first half and full game moneylines at -135. I expect the Knicks to take control of this one some time during the first half, and never look back.

NBA Pick: Knicks 1H ML/Full Game ML (-135)