Possibly so, that is why NY is so important. Keeping Trump below 50% will have a huge impact on whether or not he can acquire the needed delegates for an outright win. Making sure he comes in under 50% will deny him all of NY's delegates. So Cruz is not wasting time and money on NY once you understand the stakes.
But he will be mathematically eliminated ... then what exactly are the stakes ...
He should just run on an honest platform at that point ...
"My message and platform is not resonating with the voters, I will loose to Trump ... so now my goal is to prevent Trump from getting enough votes to get to 1237, and hope my backdoor efforts pay off. This is how a second place finisher uses the political system (God bless our system) to achieve the goal of thwarting the will of the people. Thanks for your wasted vote y'all ... and remember ... a vote for me is a vote for not Trump ... because I hate Trump more than I love America."