The New York Knicks (65-31 straight up, 53-42-1 against the spread) won their 10th consecutive game to take a 3-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals by spanking the Cleveland Cavaliers 121-108 as 2.5-point underdogs in Saturday’s Game 3 at Rocket Arena. They hooked up money-line supporters with a +125 payout, while the 229 combined points sailed ‘over’ the 219.5-point total.
The ‘over’ improved to 11-6 for the Cavs in the playoffs, while the ‘over’ is 8-6 for the Knicks during the postseason.
Mike Brown’s team jumped out to a 37-27 lead in the first quarter, burying 12-of-17 field-goal attempts. Cleveland (60-39 SU, 40-58-1 ATS) rallied to pull even at 50-50 before the Knicks countered with a 10-1 run.
They led 60-54 at halftime. The Cavs cut the deficit to three early in the third quarter, but they would get no closer than that.
Landry Shamet drained three 3-pointers in a 99-second stretch to give the Knicks some separation early in the fourth quarter. They maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
New York became just the seventh team in the NBA history to win at least 10 straight games during the postseason. Nine of those victories have been by double-digit margins, and the average margin of those wins has been 22.5 points.
“I think their physicality and energy, we couldn’t get to that level to combat it,” Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “They’re on a hell of a run. We haven’t been able to stop the momentum. We had one chance in that first game I thought to stop it, but they haven’t been able to halt their momentum.”
Jalen Brunson led six double-figure scorers with 30 points, six assists and three rebounds, making 10-of-19 FGAs and 10-of-12 free throws. OG Anunoby finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Mikal Bridges had 22 points, six boards, three steals and a pair of blocked shots.
Shamet buried 4-of-5 launches from downtown in a 14-point effort. Karl-Anthony Towns had 13 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals, and Josh Hart contributed 12 points, nine boards, five assists and four steals.
“Our guys were locked in from the beginning of the game, and it showed from the first few minutes of the game. We got a lot of great contributions,” Brown said. “I thought throughout the whole game we did a good job trying to play fast. We don’t want to go against their set defense all the time, so we’ve got to keep trying to play fast. And then our guys did a better job in the second half trying to defend without fouling.”
Evan Mobley had a team-high 24 points and six rebounds, but he committed five of the Cavs’ 22 turnovers. Donovan Mitchell finished with 23 points, four steals and three assists, but he also coughed up five turnovers.
James Harden had 19 points, five rebounds and five assists, but he had a team-high six turnovers. Jarrett Allen had 17 points and seven boards, while Max Strus contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists without a turnover.
As of Sunday morning, most books had New York installed as a two-point road favorite for Monday’s Game 4 at Cleveland. The total was 217 or 217.5 points at most spots.
FanDuel has Brunson listed as the -1500 ‘chalk’ to win East finals MVP honors, while Towns has 33/1 odds. Brunson has +380 odds to win NBA Finals MVP honors, with OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is installed as the -155 favorite.
FanDuel has the Thunder as a -170 favorite to win the NBA Finals. The Knicks have +300 odds, followed by the Spurs (+470) and Cavs (200/1).