Overview
- Game 1 tips at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, where sportsbooks list New York as the favorite to start the best-of-seven series.
- Cleveland arrives after consecutive seven-game series and a Sunday Game 7 in Detroit, setting up a fatigue-versus-momentum storyline against a well-rested Knicks team.
- New York confirmed OG Anunoby is cleared for Game 1 with an expected minutes cap after a right hamstring strain, positioning the wing to take turns on Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.
- The paint battle is a focal point as Mitchell Robinson’s rebounding meets Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, with ESPN’s Chiney Ogwumike urging Robinson to be “a beast on the boards.”
- Sportico’s Lev Akabas found that teams with five or more days of rest facing a one-day-rest opponent are 42-23 in Game 1s and 48-17 in those series, a trend that supports the Knicks’ perceived edge.