Are you a fan of a National Basketball League team playing in New York?
Maybe you supported the Nets when they played in Newark, or have just recently started to follow the team once they moved to Brooklyn. Of course, you might be a long time New York Knicks’ fan, following the team through thick and (a lot of) thin.
However long you have been supporting the two NBA teams in the five boroughs, there is one thing you all have in common.
Can you believe it has been nearly 50 years since the New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers for their second NBA title in four seasons, to end the 1972-73 season? That title ended a run of three finals appearances in four years for the Knicks.
In the 49 years since, the Knicks and Nets have combined to go to the NBA Finals just four more times, and three of them came in a five-year stretch from 1999 to 2003.
That is right: the Knicks have not been back to the finals since 1999, while the Nets have not gone back since their second trip in a row after the 2002-03 campaign.
But is that finally about to change?
Right now, Brooklyn is the overwhelming favorite to win both the Eastern Conference title, and also the NBA championship. The Nets have odds of +130 to win their first conference title in 19 years, ahead of defending NBA champion Milwaukee (odds of +300). Brooklyn is also the heavy favorite to win the NBA title, at odds of +250, ahead of Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors (+500) and defending Western Conference champion Phoenix (+650).
The news is not as rosy for fans who backed the Knicks before the season, after their fourth place finish in the East last year. Right now, New York is sitting in 11th place, and outside of the playoff picture. The Knicks have odds of +3300 (33-1) to win the Eastern Conference, and +9000 to win the NBA title (90-1). That does not bode well, after so many fans had high hopes for the 2021-22 campaign.
“Right now, I would say that the Eastern Conference is starting to shake out the way we all thought before the season,” a spokesperson for Offers.bet said. “I think we have seen some surprises, like the Bulls and Cavaliers playing so well. But the East is pretty wide open, after the Nets.
“Brooklyn is the clear top choice right now, ahead of last season’s NBA champs Milwaukee. The Nets are close to even money. I think the big question is, can the Knicks get back into the playoff hunt? They were good last season, and are right now out of the playoffs.”
With Kevin Durant out for a period of time due to a knee injury, the Nets have been relying on the James Harden-Kyrie Irving duo to carry them. Irving has been good since he returned to the fold (he has to sit out home games in New York because of the local mandate regarding COVID-19 vaccination status), and Harden has been finding his shooting form of late.
Will you take a chance and back the Nets to win the East, and/or the NBA title, at short odds, knowing the injury history and the Irving situation (which may change by then)?
Or will you take a shot with a team further down the board?
