Knicks' Unpredictable Playoff Run May Take Another Turn Wednesday

Cleveland has gone winless on the road during this entire postseason, but breaking that curse becomes easier if two of the Pistons' relied-upon pieces are ailing. That could set up the Cavaliers to take a 3-2 lead once the night is over, then head back home to Rocket Arena, where they're undefeated (6-0, including a Game 7 win) this playoffs to potentially close things out.

The Knicks have several reasons to root for the Cavs to prevail in this series. At the top of the list is that 3-seed New York would gain home-court advantage in the conference finals if the 4-seed Cavaliers are the opponent, while 1-seed Detroit gets that major benefit if it advances. Forcing a Cleveland team that's struggled on the road to have to take one from New York at the Garden to win a series is an incredibly attractive proposition.

That scenario seemed to appear unlikely in the early going of this other second-round series, as the Pistons jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of double-digit wins. Detroit came into this matchup high after an incredible turnaround to avoid an Orlando upset, while the Cavaliers had just squeezed by the Raptors. That situation had many in Knicksland bracing for the Pistons as the opposing ECF team.

This series now looks a lot more level after Cleveland took care of business at home, and this injury news even helps swing momentum in the Cavs' favor after they initially seemed like they'd get rolled over.

New York has already benefited from one playoff surprise this postseason as Philadelphia took down the Knicks' assumed second round opponent. Now they could be on the winning end of another upset that highlights how open the East side of the bracket has been this year.

Even if Kenny Atkinson's squad advances, there is still a valid belief that they aren't as worrisome an opponent for the Knicks as the Pistons were at their peak. They've been incredibly reliant on Donovan Mitchell being a supernova to get them to this point. Still, the Knicks' noticeable improvements on defense—including an ability to adjust and stymie hot scorers like CJ McCollum and Tyrese Maxey—provide major confidence in that matchup.

The dream timeline of the Knicks having home-court advantage and drawing the Cavaliers, whom they already went 2-1 against in the regular season, in the conference finals was once on life support. Yet now it's fully alive, and Wednesday night could even put it on the doorstep of coming to fruition.