Knicks Week Preview: Nets and Bulls at the Garden, Then a Trip to Cleveland

The New York Knicks enter the first full week of November at 2-4, and the schedule gives them a chance to fix that. As Posting and Toasting's week preview on SB Nation lays out, the defending champions play two home games against teams near the bottom of the East, then finish Saturday in Cleveland against a Cavaliers team that has started 4-2.

The week starts Monday at Madison Square Garden against Brooklyn. The Nets lost their first five games before winning 98-90 at Indiana on Sunday, and they rank near the bottom of the league in most major categories. The one exception is pace. This is the first meeting of the season between the two teams. The last one came March 20 at Barclays Center, when the Knicks won 93-92. In its game preview, Posting and Toasting notes that New York has won 14 straight against Brooklyn going back to January 2023. Jose Alvarado is still recovering from a sprained ankle.

Chicago comes to the Garden on Wednesday, a week after the Knicks won 133-127 at the United Center. Jalen Brunson scored 38 in that game, and New York came back from 19 points down. The Bulls are 1-5 and have lost four straight. Caleb Wilson, Josh Giddey and Norman Powell have carried most of their scoring, but the defense has been poor. New York can't count on another comeback that large if it falls behind early again.

Saturday's game in Cleveland is the hardest of the three. Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and James Harden have the Cavaliers scoring efficiently. Their defense has lagged, ranking 20th in points allowed and 17th in defensive rating when the preview was written. Jarrett Allen and Mobley will test a Knicks frontcourt that is short on size. James Wiseman has played in only three of six games and has sat out the last two. Cleveland has also had the Knicks' sweep of them in last season's Eastern Conference finals to think about.

What it means for Monday

The Knicks are 1-2 at home, and their only home win came 111-97 over Detroit. They split their last two road games, winning in Chicago before losing 98-93 in Philadelphia on Friday. Five of their six games have been decided by single digits or close to it. That makes a game against a team that went 0-5 before Sunday a chance to get some breathing room as much as a chance to collect a win.

The board on Monday's game has the Knicks as heavy favorites across 12 venues. Novig lists New York at -809 on the moneyline and Brooklyn at +733. That roughly matches the 87 percent win chance Posting and Toasting cited from ESPN. Novig's spread is Knicks -14.5 at -108, with Brooklyn +14.5 at +102. Pinnacle has the best Nets number anywhere at +15, priced at -112. Novig's total is 221.5, and theScore Bet has the highest under line at 222.5 (-115). The venues are separated by about half a point on both the spread and the total. Sportsbook hold runs from 2.8 to 5.0 percent depending on the market.

Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. ET at the Garden.