Night two of the 2025-26 NBA season features a huge Eastern Conference showdown on ESPN between the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks. Both teams have legitimate title aspirations.
Let’s dive into my Cavs vs. Knicks predictions.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks odds
Money line: Cavaliers -112 / Knicks -104
Spread: Cavaliers -1.5 (-102) / Knicks +1.5 (-118)
Total: Over 227.5 (-110) / Under 227.5 (-110)
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks best bet #1: Cavaliers -1.5 (-102)
Cleveland is favored to win the East this season, and why not? The Cavaliers compiled a 64-18 regular-season record in 2024-25 before being felled largely by injuries in the playoffs. Now it is other top teams in the Eastern Conference that dealing with the injury bug, whereas the Cavs are healthy for the most part. Darius Garland is out with a toe issue, but Cleveland is otherwise good to go. Head coach head coach Kenny Atkinson returns a stacked roster that features Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and De’Andre Hunter. Cleveland should be very good on both ends of the floor and effective in both the frontcourt and the backcourt. Weaknesses are few and far between.
The Knicks are one of those teams that is banged up. Josh Hart (back) and Mitchell Robinson (undisclosed) have been downgraded to out for Wednesday. Karl-Anthony Towns (quadriceps) and OG Anunoby (ankle) are day-to-day. It also has to be said that new head coach Mike Brown does not inspire much confidence. Although New York was solid at home last season (27-14), the Cavaliers were awesome on the road (30-11). Moreover, Cleveland was a perfect 4-0 in the head-to-head series in 2024-25, including 2-0 at Madison Square Garden. The Cavs won those four meetings by a combined 68 points.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks best player prop bet: Jarrett Allen Over 12.5 points (-108)
With Robinson and Hart not playing and Towns either out or at the very least less than 100 percent, the Knicks are severely depleted down low. That means Allen will probably have a field day in the paint. Garland being sidelined should also result in a heavier scoring workload for the Texas product.
Allen fared well against New York last season, averaging 14.3 points per game. In two contest at Madison Square Garden, he recorded 13.0 ppg and 14.0 rpg.
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