{"id":741923,"date":"2026-05-23T13:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/741923\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T13:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:12:22","slug":"knicks-vs-cavaliers-game-3-prediction-eastern-conference-finals-picks-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/741923\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks vs. Cavaliers Game 3 prediction: Eastern Conference Finals picks, odds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting-editorial-standards\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<p>The Knicks head to Cleveland on Saturday for Game 3 against the Cavaliers on a ridiculous nine-game playoff win streak.<\/p>\n<p>They haven\u2019t been in the loss column in exactly a month, a surge that has coincided with a shift in Mike Brown\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past month, Karl-Anthony Towns has suddenly become the Knicks\u2019 top distributor in a change few saw coming.<\/p>\n<p>Towns is averaging 6.9 assists per game since Game 4 against the Hawks in Round 1, which would easily be the best nine-game stretch of his regular-season <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting\/nba-betting-sites\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA<\/a> career.<\/p>\n<p>In Game 2, the Cavs curbed Towns\u2019 passing prowess, holding him to just one assist.<\/p>\n<p>Oddsmakers apparently took notice, with most major sportsbooks dropping his assist over\/under to just 4.5, but I\u2019m not ready to give up on Towns as a passer.<\/p>\n<p>Towns went over this number in each of his eight previous games, including six or more dishes in seven of those contests, and one quiet outing shouldn\u2019t be enough to erase what has become a clear feature of New York\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.42420028;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39449390\" width=\"840\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/game-1-eastern-conference-finals-128259605.jpg\" alt=\"New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns drives to the basket as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell defends during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.\" class=\"wp-image-39449390\"  \/>Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) drives to the basket as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) defends. Jason Szenes for the New York Post<\/p>\n<p>Even though it didn\u2019t show up in the box score, Towns still spent plenty of time at the top of the key, with screens and cutters moving around him.<\/p>\n<p>In what should be a tight game with the Cavs\u2019 backs against the wall, don\u2019t be surprised if the Knicks lean back into that look.<\/p>\n<p>Betting on the NBA? <\/p>\n<p>At plus-odds, Towns is worth backing to return to the role that helped power the Knicks\u2019 month-long surge.<\/p>\n<p>The play: Karl-Anthony Towns over 4.5 assists (+125, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting\/draftkings-promo-code\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n<p>Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He\u2019s particularly knowledgeable about the big three \u2014 MLB, the NFL and the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,212,193,304,6,214,1136,191,3810,3806,66,215,216],"class_list":["post-741923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-knicks","tag-basketball","tag-betting","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-knicks","tag-nba","tag-nba-betting","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkknicks","tag-sports","tag-sports-betting","tag-sports-picks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116624067581897299","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}