Cavaliers at Knicks
THE STORY: The New York Knicks get one last shot this season at breaking this hex the Cavaliers hold over them. The league’s worst team has beaten the Knicks in all three of their meetings this season and the last 11 in a row dating back to when LeBron James played for the Cavs.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Ohio, MSG
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (15-60): The Cavs have dropped three of their last four, including an embarrassing 115-107 loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday when the Wizards were missing their top two scorers. The Cavs surrendered 27 offensive rebounds to the Wizards, including 16 just to Andray Blatche. Cavs forward J.J. Hickson took responsibility for Blatche’s career night and swore it wouldn’t happen again. He’ll have a tough time backing up that promise against the Knicks’ Amar’s Stoudemire, who has destroyed the Cavs’ this season. Baron Davis is fitting in nicely as the starting point guard and Ramon Sessions is flourishing now that he has returned to his backup role. But the Cavs are short on victories. They’ve accomplished the stunning task of losing 60 games in a season one year after winning 60.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (37-38): New York stopped the bleeding following its six-game losing streak and has since won two straight, but the Knicks are still seventh in the Eastern Conference playoff seedings. They can pull back to .500 with a victory over a team they have struggled to beat for years. After cramming 18 games into the month of March, the Knicks haven’t played a game since Wednesday. It was a welcome reprieve for a tired team. They took Thursday off and only did some light work on Friday before returning to the gym on Saturday. The first order of business will be determining if Stoudemire is just tired or struggling to adjust to his new role now that Carmelo Anthony is taking a larger role in the offense. Anthony has averaged 25 shots in his last four games, while Stoudemire’s touches are dwindling. He isn’t playing with the same ferociousness as usual and it’s clear the Knicks are still working on their chemistry with the postseason looming.
WHO'S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Sessions has scored 50 points in his last two games, both off the bench. Daniel Gibson, shooting 42 percent for the year on 3-pointers, is shooting just 28 percent (5 of 18) in his last five games. Stoudemire is averaging 31.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in three games against the Cavs this season. Since March 13, Chauncey Billups is shooting 29 percent on 3-pointers (21 of 72).
KEY STATISTIC: The Knicks haven’t beaten the Cavaliers since Dec. 19, 2007 at the Garden.
SEASON SERIES: The Cavaliers lead 3-0. This is the final meeting of the season.
KEY INJURIES: CLEVELAND: C Anderson Varejao (ankle); C Semih Erden (groin); F Antawn Jamison (finger); F Samardo Samuels (wrist). NEW YORK: F/C Ronny Turiaf (ankle).
LAST WORD: Knicks forward Shelden Williams is married to WNBA star Candace Parker, the sister of starting Cavs guard Anthony Parker.