The New York Knicks may have thought they had come out nicely on their trip to the Rocket Mortgage Arena, as they took one game on the road in their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series. But there's no guarantee that the Knicks are going to be masters of the universe on their own home floor.

BetOnline patrons know that the Cleveland Cavaliers have found themselves offensively, while the Knicks have work to do. And they don't exactly dominate things at Madison Square Garden. So the Cavs have a chance to take a big advantage as these teams meet at 8:30 PM ET.

Cleveland head coach JB Bickerstaff made an important personnel move in Game 2, as he took Isaac Okoro out of the action entirely and gave other people more time. In doing so, he sacrificed something on the defensive end, since Okoro is generally considered to be the Cavs' best perimeter defender.

Well, theoretically it was a sacrifice. Cleveland has played some pretty good defense against the Knicks, regardless of who's been in the game. And they have been able to proceed at their own speed. These are encouraging signs for them.

What is not so encouraging is that Cedi Osman is listed as questionable with an injury, but then again, if he's absent that might produce more minutes for Okoro.

The bottom line is that New York needs to get its big guns rolling. Will that happen as a matter of course?

The Knicks are not much of a favorite, according to the basketball betting odds from which we will make our NBA free pick at BetOnline:

New York Knicks -1.5 (-115)
Cleveland Cavaliers +1.5 (-105)

Over 211.5 Points (-105)
Under 211.5 Points (-115)

Okoro's loss was Caris Levert's gain in Game 2, and the former Michigan star came up big, with 24 points. if you recall, a few years ago, LeVert was a standout for the Brooklyn Nets in the bubble, and when he is hitting, Cleveland becomes a scary proposition offensively, what with the presence of people like Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen already in the lineup.

The Cavaliers ranked #1 in the NBA in Defensive Rating, which means they gave up fewer points per 100 possessions than any other team. And you can see some of the traces of that in this series. They have forced Julius Randle, who came into the series with an injury, to 37.5% shooting and forced him into eleven turnovers. Jalen Brunson has been facing a lot of double-teaming and is just 39% from the floor. And RJ Barrett's results have been disastrous, as he is just 6 of 25 (24%) from the field.

So as they have an Effective Field Goal Percentage of just 43.8%, the Knicks need answers. The problematic thing is that this kind of effort on the stop end isn't the most unexpected thing the Cavs produce. And Tom Thibodeau has to find someone to make life more difficult for Garland, who has hit eight of his 14 shots from downtown. We're okay taking the Cavs on the road. 

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