The Cleveland Cavaliers have to prove they can beat the New York Knicks

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a showdown with the New York Knicks on Friday.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will likely be meeting with the New York Knicks to open up the 2023 playoffs. The Knicks are just good enough to stay ahead of the shrinking Brooklyn Nets, and the Philadelphia 76ers look like they’ll keep their few-game lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third spot in the Eastern Conference.

So unless things drastically change between now and the end of the season, the Cavaliers will remain the 4th seed and the Knicks will remain the 5th seed. This would seem fine unless you remember that the Cavs were rumored to want the Nets in the opening round. Now, this wasn’t the Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving Nets they wanted, either, this was the post-Durant/Irving trade Nets the team wanted.

Why though? The Cavs have a better record than the Knicks, so you’d think that the Knicks would be preferred. That’s not the case, however. The Cavs are just 1-2 against the Knicks this year heading into their final regular season matchup on Friday, March 31.

The Cavs need to tie up the regular season series against the Knicks to prove to themselves they can beat them. Right now, they’ve lost two ugly games to them that they shouldn’t have. An 11-point loss in their second encounter, where they failed to score more than 81 points, and a second loss where the Knicks won by two, but against a Cavs team that was fully healthy.

These losses are enough to shake confidence, which is why a win on Friday matters.

The Cleveland Cavaliers can beat the New York Knicks

The Cavs can beat the Knicks, even with talent missing. They knocked them off in a 13-point win early in the season without Darius Garland, so clearly the team has the ability to do so regardless of the injury situation.

The Cavs have been able to handle Julius Randle, with him only going off once in the third encounter, where he dropped 36 points. The combined trio of Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, and Dean Wade should help nullify that. As the Knicks don’t have a second big-time scoring big-man the Cavs can just focus on him all game.

Jalen Brunson isn’t a huge threat either. While he’s shot well statistically against the Cavs, 41.6% from the floor and 40% from three; he’s only averaged 17.7 points per game and has a -6 BPM against the Cavs.

This is a two-man team, and if the Cavs can focus on slowing down Randle and Brunson and make guys like R.J. Barrett try to beat the Cavs, then Cleveland has a great shot not just on Friday night but when the first-round series begins.