The New York Knicks scored a surprise upset win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road in Game 1. They’re now 5-point underdogs for Game 2. Bettors hunting out the sharpest Knicks-Cavaliers player props should know that FanDuel and DraftKings have left way too much value on the Jarrett Allen and RJ Barrett player prop markets for Game 2. Check out OddsShopper’s tools for other sharp plays, including our Parlay Builder!
Knicks-Cavaliers Game 2 NBA Player Prop | Jarrett Allen
Jarrett Allen O/U 10.5
Cleveland’s head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, harped on two key issues in his postgame press conference: underwhelming play from the bench unit and poor defensive rebounding. With one playoff game now under their belts, expect Bickerstaff’s Cavaliers to bounce back in Game 2. Jarrett Allen should do plenty of damage on the glass again, just like he did in Game 1.
Allen recorded 14 rebounds in the series opener. He did so on a whopping 28 rebound chances, by far the most in the game. Evan Mobley had 17 rebound chances and Mitchell Robinson had 18. Yet Allen came down with a board on only 50% of his opportunities, while Mobley secured the board 64.7% of the time. Robinson struggled worse than Allen by securing the rebound only 44.4% of the time.
I’m a big fan of this prop because Allen owned the Knicks in the regular season. He tallied 42 rebounds against them over three games, good for 14 per contest. He also stayed out of foul trouble in every game. Allen’s 14-rebound performance in Game 1 should have come as no surprise, and he only has to come down with 11 boards to go over this number again.
Pinnacle, a sharp sportsbook, has the over 10.5 priced at -107 (51.7%). Yet we can find the over at +106 (48.4%) at FanDuel Sportsbook. We’re not going to stop there, however. Bettors should wager three-quarters of a unit on that number and a quarter-unit on the over 12.5 at +220 (31.3%). The Cavaliers don’t have a playoff-viable backup center, so Mobley and Allen should see the floor for almost the entire series. Those yet to register at FanDuel can get $150 in bonus bets just for placing a $5 wager!
Best Knicks-Cavaliers Player Prop: Jarrett Allen Over 10.5 Rebounds +106 at FanDuel for 0.75 Unit
Knicks-Cavaliers Game 2 NBA Player Prop | RJ Barrett
RJ Barrett O/U 1.5 3-Pointers
The Cleveland Cavaliers were content to have Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland defend RJ Barrett in Game 1. The strategy worked — Barrett shot an atrocious 2-for-12 from the field and 1-for-5 from the perimeter in 31 minutes of action — but it may not work again. Mitchell grades out as a negative defender, per FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR ratings, and Garland is just barely a positive one.
Barrett is one of the NBA’s least efficient players, but he isn’t afraid to shoot. Despite converting only 31% of his 3-point attempts this year, Barrett still averaged 1.7 per game on a career-high 5.3 attempts in the regular season. Barrett has shot only 27.3% from the perimeter in six-career playoff starts but has still averaged 1.5 per game, beating this number in three of those games.
Barrett knows that the Cavaliers don’t take him seriously from deep. His first 3-point attempt of the game went barely contested. He was left wide open on his lone make of the game. Barrett also made at least two triples in each of his four regular-season starts against the Cavaliers this year and converted an impressive 43.4% of his attempts. It’s usually wise to let Barrett shoot, but because of how lackadaisical Cleveland’s backcourt defense can be, he has found ways to make shots.
Let’s buy the over at +125 (44.4%) at DraftKings Sportsbook. This is far too good a price to pass up for a play that hit in every regular-season meeting between these teams this year, especially since Barrett has gone over this number at a 50% clip in his playoff career. It’ll be frustrating to watch him miss open looks on Tuesday night, but he should get enough of them to cash this ticket for us.
Best Knicks-Cavaliers Player Prop: RJ Barrett Over 1.5 3-Pointers +125 for 0.75 Unit at DraftKings
