{"id":805763,"date":"2026-05-18T19:35:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/805763\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T19:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:35:21","slug":"new-york-knicks-extra-rest-should-win-out-over-rust-data-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/805763\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Knicks’ Extra Rest Should Win Out Over Rust, Data Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe New York Knicks<\/a> are coming off one of the most dominant stretches in NBA postseason history. They swept the Philadelphia 76ers, outscoring them by 89 points\u2014the second-largest margin ever in an NBA second-round series\u2014after closing out their first-round series with a historic 51-point blowout of the Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Knicks last played on Sunday, May 10, and fans are wondering if their team will lose momentum after the full week off. While the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers duked it out in a physical series that the Cavs won in seven games on Sunday night, the Knicks sat at home awaiting their next opponent.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s good for recovery, but mentally, I\u2019m watching the games just waiting to get back out there,\u201d Knicks forward Josh Hart said in a press conference last week. \u201cIt\u2019s a little long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe data, however, debunks the notion that the Knicks\u2019 rust will be a factor in the conference finals. Since the modern NBA playoff format was instituted in 1984, there have been 65 series in which one team came in with at least five days off while their opponent had just one day of rest. The better-rested team had a 48-17 record in those series.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf rust was a concern, then teams returning from an extended break should struggle\u2014particularly in Game 1s, before regaining their footing\u2014but that\u2019s not the case. The better-rested teams, as previously defined, have gone 42-23 in Game 1s with an average point differential of +6.8\u2014nearly identical to their 44-21 record with an average margin of +5.5 in Game 2s of those same series.<\/p>\n

\n\tMany of these were heavily favored in the series by sportsbooks after racking up early playoff wins. Still, a $100 bet on the better-rested team in each of those series would have yielded a positive return of $222 total (roughly $3 per series), per historic odds from Covers.com, meaning that those teams ever-so-slightly overperformed relative to their expectation. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNarrowing down to only teams that also had home-court advantage, as the Knicks do against the Cavaliers, the record is a stellar 39-3. In the conference finals specifically, higher-seeded teams that meet the aforementioned rest criteria are 10-0. It stands to reason that further into the grind of the postseason, a rest advantage is even more valuable.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe three higher-seeded teams that lost in the second round after a long hiatus are:<\/p>\n