Knicks vs Cavaliers NBA Analysis, Odds, and Best Bet (2/21)

The blue and orange from the Mecca of Basketball visit The Land and it’s not to be tourists at The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Cleveland Cavaliers host the New York Knicks in a showdown of the NBA’s Eastern Conference contenders. This should be a battle!

Game Information

• Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Cleveland, Ohio
• New York Knicks (37-18) visit the (45-10) Cleveland Cavaliers
• Previous Matchup: CLE Win 112-107 October 28th, 2024

New York Knicks @ Cleveland Cavaliers

Knicks played inside Madison Square Garden last night. Karl-Anthony Towns continued his dominate season. A tumultuous first half was followed by a tenacious showing out of the locker room. He scored 26 points the rest of the way as they secured the overtime victory.

Normally, a home win against the Bulls would be expected. However, the  Knicks were missing Hart and Anunoby. Chicago shot well from three and that kept them in the game. Remember that for later.

The Cavaliers won the skills competition after the spurs antics got them disqualified.  They also played last night. Cleveland stole a 13-point victory in Brooklyn. However, the Nets are in full tank mode. Cleveland definitely had this one circled on the calendar. These two teams surprisingly haven’t played one another since late October.

Both teams have been good in their last ten games, each have done well playing within the east, and both believe they are in contention. The Knicks have 8 wins in their last 10 while bringing in a 3 game winning streak. Their opponents have 9 wins in the same sample size and they’ve won 5 straight basketball games.

Considering the moment, this might be the defensive play of the year for the Knicks. pic.twitter.com/8jIxTDe16a

— DJ Zullo (@DJAceNBA) February 21, 2025

NBA Game Analysis

The New York Knicks have great defensive players on their roster but they live and breathe through their offence. Tom Thibodeau is a defensive minded coach, so this engine is brought to life by Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. Both of these stars play much worse than their averages when facing the Cavaliers. The first seed in the East is 25-4 at home. Couple this with their stars history against the Cavs and Knicks fans should be worried. They are the underdog in this one for many reasons.

They can obviously still win this one. KAT has only played the Cavaliers once while being a Knickerbocker. He played 32 minutes but had 6 fouls. He struggled to gain rhythm while playing one of his first games for the franchise. The path for victory is for the Knicks stars to play up to the standard they set themselves and hitting threes. Cleveland has a great defence but their one weakness is giving up the three. Teams shoot 36.1% against the Cavaliers from 3 which ranks 19th. The Knicks shoot from beyond 37.4% (6th) from beyond the arc.

Furthermore, besides hitting their threes, they will need to rebound better than their opponent. Cleveland doesn’t rebound offensively well, so if Knicks clean the glass then they can limit Clevelands offensive possessions.

This game has a high total because if the Knicks steal this one or cover it is by making Cleveland face the full force of their behemoth of an offence. OG and Hart are listed as game time decisions. It would be reasonable to assert they suit up in this once because they sat out last night. The Knicks coaching staff will have extensively prepared for this game and this could be an intense game.

King of the East without The King

No LeBron James? No Problem. The Cavaliers franchise has been preparing for this moment. They traded for a star, drafted well, and acquired fantastic complimentary pieces. Now they sit atop the conference ready to contend. They pair the 10th best scoring defence with the second ranked scoring offence. The Cavaliers may be softer defending the three, but the Knicks simply bleed points from there. They rank dead last in opponent three point percentage while Cleveland ranks first as they shoot it at nearly 40% as a team.

WHAT?! HOW?! EVAN?! MOBLEY?!@evanmobley | #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/aMDc8yaHUR

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) February 21, 2025

NBA Best Bet: Evan Mobley o16.5 Points (-120)

The fourth year pro is breaking out in a major way. He has a become a legit and reliable shooter as is evidence of him increasing his free throw % by four percentage points from last year and 10(!) percent since his rookie campaign. This game has a very high total and both teams struggle to defend the three but someone has to score inside too. Evan Mobley has developed his game to a point where I find this number too low. He has 17 points when these two teams played last. He averages 19.3 points in his last ten games.

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