Tip-off: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Line: Cleveland -9.5, Total: N/A

The Cavaliers begin their title defense with a home game against the Knicks on Tuesday.

The Knicks will be testing their new-look out on the national stage, as they’re facing the defending champions in the first game of the new season on Tuesday. New York was horrible a year ago, but the team brought in Jeff Hornacek as its new head coach and the expectation is that the Knicks offense will finally get with the times. He wants his team to get up the floor fast and find easy buckets, but he also wants to see more pick-and-rolls and a lot less of last season’s methodical triangle look. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, will be hoping for more of the same, as they ended the season on top a year ago. Cleveland has also dominated New York as of late, as the team is 6-1 SU against the Knicks over the past three seasons. New York is, however, an impressive 5-2 ATS in those contests and the team will be looking to make a statement in its first game with PG Derrick Rose, SG Courtney Lee and C Joakim Noah. Rose did not play a single preseason game due to his sexual assault trial, but he was found not liable in that case and is going to be in the lineup and ready to play on Tuesday. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, are at full strength coming into this one and SF Mike Dunleavy is set to be making his debut off the bench with his new team.

Last season, the Knicks were rolling out a point guard combination of Jose Calderon and Jerian Grant. Now they’ll have Derrick Rose (16.4 PPG, 4.7 APG last season) and Brandon Jennings (6.9 PPG, 3.5 APG last season) manning the position and that is a significant upgrade, even if Rose never regains his 2011 form. With Rose and Jennings in the fold, New York will have two guys that can attack the rim and actually put some pressure on opposing defenses. They also have players that are quick enough to stay in front of the other elite players at their position, which is something that Calderon really couldn’t do. The talent upgrade at guard also comes in the form of SG Courtney Lee (9.6 PPG last season), who is the definition of a “three-and-D” wing. He is the perfect guy to play with a team that has ball dominant players like Rose and SF Carmelo Anthony (21.8 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 4.2 APG last season), as he does not need to touch the ball often and is ready to spot up when those guys get in trouble. The Knicks will, however, go as far as their frontcourt (and health) takes them. New York needs PF Kristaps Porzingis (14.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 1.9 BPG last season) to continue to improve and he showed that he is ready to take on a bigger role in the preseason. C Joakim Noah (4.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.0 BPG last season), meanwhile, has to show that he is the same player he was two years ago for Chicago. Many feel that he has lost a step, but Knicks president Phil Jackson showed that he doesn’t believe that to be the case this offseason. He shelled out a four-year, 64-million dollar contract to Noah and believes he can be the team’s defensive anchor. This matchup with the Cavaliers will be a great test of where this team stands.

SF LeBron James (25.3 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 6.8 APG, 1.4 SPG last season) is back for the Cavaliers and that means that this team is going to be the favorite to win the Eastern Conference once again. James has not slowed down with age and is still one of the best all-around players in basketball. He’ll get up for this matchup with New York, as he enjoys playing against Carmelo Anthony and knows that the whole world will be watching him. He does, however, have a ton of help now, as PG Kyrie Irving (19.6 PPG, 4.7 APG, 1.1 SPG last season) did a lot of growing up in last year’s championship run and should take a step forward this season. Irving hit the game-winning three in Game 7 against the Warriors and he’ll surely have some sky-high confidence moving forward. The Knicks might have improved their backcourt defensively, but Irving should still be able to make plays on Tuesday. The x-factor for Cleveland this season will, however, be the play of PF Kevin Love (16.0 PPG, 9.9 RPG last season). Love has never quite fit in with the Cavaliers, but he did have a solid series against the Warriors in the finals and will be hoping to build off of that this season. If Love can come into his own this year then the Cavaliers just might be able to give the Durant-led Warriors a run for their money.