2026 NBA Playoffs: Cavaliers vs. Knicks, Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 Odds & Best Bets (May 23)

The Eastern Conference Finals switch a few hundred miles west for Game 3 tonight. The Cleveland Cavaliers hope the location changes everything, as they attempt to dig out of a 2-0 hole.

The New York Knicks have won nine in a row, the longest playoff win streak in franchise history. A victory this evening in Cleveland would place the team in a fantastic position: no NBA team has ever lost a series after going up three games to none.

(Photo by David L. Nemec/NBAE via Getty Images)

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The broadcast will be on ABC and ESPN Radio.

• GAME DETAILS: New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers, 8 p.m. ET, ABC

Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 Best Bets: Cavaliers vs. Knicks

Odds in this section are from DraftKings Sportsbook. Download that app for free and grab bonus bets for NBA Playoffs.

Injury Report for Cavaliers vs. Knicks

• Neither team has placed a player on the Injury Report.

Game 3 Odds

The Cavaliers are slim favorites at home for Game 3 of the ECF. Oddsmakers at DraftKings list them at -2.5 or -130 on the moneyline.

• Spread: New York Knicks +2.5 (-112) | Cleveland Cavaliers -2.5 (-108)
• Moneyline: New York Knicks +114 | Cleveland Cavaliers -135
• Total: O/U 215.5 (-110/-110)

Preview: Game 3 of ECF

The Cavaliers are appropriately, considering their nickname and logo, dying by the sword. The team is shooting lots of threes. The trouble is they cannot make very many. The Cavs are shooting 29.4% (25-for-85) from behind the 3-point line in this series. That rate won't cut it.

This season, Donovan Mitchell, Sam Merrill, James Harden, and Jaylon Tyson combined to shoot 40.9% from 3-point range. Combined they accounted for 11 threes per game for Cleveland. In this series, that quartet is shooting 25.4% (13-for-51). We would expect about 22 3-pointers from those players in the first two games. Instead, they are -9 in total threes made in this series. That's 27 points: or exactly the margin in this series.

Harden and Merrill especially need to heat up from long-range. Both are deep threats who can carry that momentum. Mitchell is handling so much of the load of the offense that threes are almost an afterthought. Still, he's tossed up 18 3-pointers. The Cavs have chosen to limit Tyson's minutes (only 10 minutes played in two games).

Keep track of the made threes in Game 3: if the Cavs win that battle or stay even with the Knicks in threes, they have a superb chance to win.

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Game 3 Best Bets: Three-Leg Parlay for Cavaliers vs. Knicks

I'm 3-for-6 in my player prop picks in this series, and 1-for-1 in game props.

For Game 3 I'm going parlay, with representation from both teams. Odds for this parlay are +900 from DraftKings.

• Donovan Mitchell 35+ Points + Rebounds + Assists
• Sam Merrill 15+ Points
• Karl-Anthony Towns 15+ Points

Mitchell is averaging 34.5 P+R+A in this series (or PRA). He's scoring 27.5 per game. But he's averaging 28.5 PPG at home these playoffs.

I keep waiting for Sam Merrill to be the Sam Merrill who poured in 23 points in Game 7 against the Pistons, or even 13 in just 23 minutes in Game 7 against the Raptors. Some of his inconsistency has to do with the rotations that head coach Kenny Atkinson uses. In Game 2 against the Knicks, Merrill was 0-for-7 from 3-point range. He is getting 7 3-point shots per game in his last six playoff appearances. Atkinson will need to find a hot hand from downtown, and Merrill is my choice to click in Game 3 tonight.

I do not expect KAT to be as dominant on the road against Cleveland. The Knicks big man is averaging 15.6 points on the road and 18.5 at home.

Game 3 Pick: New York at Cleveland

The Cavaliers are teetering on the brink. Every time they have needed a win in this postseason, they've gotten it: two Game 7's AND a Game 3 when they were in this same position against the Detroit Pistons.

With Merrill and Mitchell enjoying big games, I expect Cleveland to do what it did in its last series against Detroit: win Game 3 at home to make it a series. I also think the margin will be comfortable at the final whistle: Cleveland's four wins in its last series were by an average of 12.5 points.

I'm going to the alternate spread market from DraftKings to make a game prop bet:

• Cavaliers +4.5 (-221 from DraftKings on Alternate Spread Line)