Game Time: 7:30 PM ET, Wednesday, February 16th, 2022 

Venue:  Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, New York

Where to Watch:  ESPN

DraftKings:  Spread:  Knicks -3.5; O/U 217

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  Knicks -3.5; O/U 217

WynnBet: Spread:  NL

Nets: 30-27, 8th place Eastern Conference

Knicks 25-33, 12th place Eastern Conference

An Eastern Conference matchup of “if only”.  The Nets vs Knicks is an inner city, inner state matchup.  It’s a battle.  It’s a war for pride.  It’s a war for fans from other burroughs.  Who will the Big Apple root for and take to heart?... Who will be on the cover of the NY Post when you walk into the neighborhood bodega? (the NY Times does real news). Truth be told…both teams are disappointments this season.  The Nets had a “big 3”... Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden.  They were supposed to blow everyone out of the water as they had the best winning regular season in NBA history…. Followed by a clear and easy run into the Finals and a sweep of whoever the Western Conference dared to put against them.  That didn’t come close to happening and will now never happen.  After Kyrie Irving chose flat earth over his teammates he failed to get vaccinated to play in home games.  The trio was broken up from the start.  The remaining duo of Kevin Durant and James Harden was pretty good even though they have little in the way of a bench.  Then Kevin Durant went down with injury.  That left only James Harden… and if there is one thing James Harden has proved over his career it is that he will do everything he can to avoid being a great leader.  He will never take the responsibility of a loss on his shoulders… It is always the players who didn’t play or the management… or the sun was in his eyes… or he had a belly ache.  It’s James Harden.  Losing is never James Harden’s fault, yet he is waiting in the wings to take credit if his team ever wins the Championship.  So…. the Nets traded James Harden to Philly for Ben Simmons and pieces.  The Nets are better and the 76ers are better today…. But are they good? The Nets with Ben Simmons will be a fun new thing.  The New York Knicks have a star player… PF  Julius Randle.  The New York Knicks fans hate Julius Randle.  Julius Randle did the worst thing a Knick player could ever do… he pointed out (with an emphatic thumbs down) that the Knicks fans are spoiled.  If a team could trade fans the Knicks would give up this group for literally any other fan base… and they may even throw in some future draft picks.  The Knicks fans boo players WHEN THEY ARE DRAFTED… Then when they struggle as rookies… then when they commit turnovers or miss shots. Really, the Knicks fans boo the players because they do not like the owner.  The owner doesn’t care.  The players do care.  All that entitled bratty fan behavior destroys players.  Whole generations of Knicks draft picks have been ruined by their own fans.  It’s hard to figure out which team will win in this one because it is hard to figure out which team the home fans will be booing.  Madison Square Garden is the mecca of YUCK.

The Brooklyn Nets are still missing leading scorer Kevin Durant and will be until he is fully healthy… AND decides the team is worth rejoining.  The Nets are on the road in this game, but can not play PG Kyrie Irving because he is still not vaccinated and it is still New York City.  That leaves the debut (if) of SF Ben Simmons.  Ben Simmons is set up to have a great game!... if he plays.  He most likely will not since he is listed as needing conditioning after sitting out the whole season from the Sixers.  That leaves a Nets starting five of Patty Mills, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, Kessler Edwards, and Bruce Brown.  Ouch!  They did win their last game in Seth Curry’s Brooklyn debut over the Sacramento Kings…. 109 - 85.  Seth Curry played great.  It was also against the Kings.  Until Ben Simmons joins in the fun the Nets are not worth any bets… and even when he does it will have to be in a Kyrie Irving road game if you want someone to be taking the shots.  The Nets are now 1 win in their last 10 games.  They stink and it’s hard to say that Seth Curry is enough to get a team to stop stinking.

The New York Knicks have only won 2 of their last ten games.  The Knicks stink too! They are also only 2-8 ATS over the last ten… so they aren’t even competitive.  The Knicks are making the classic trade deadline mistake of thinking SF RJ Barrett is “untouchable”... he is not even in the top 6 of players taken in his own draft.  Yuck Knicks… Do they really want another Allen Houston?... Keep a guy forever and pay him huge money while he never pulls out any wins??  The team also should be starting SF Cam Reddish over Quentin Grimes.  It’s time Cam proved he belongs in the NBA and the only way he could ever do that is with actual minutes.  

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Our prediction for Wednesday, February 16th is….  Knicks 110 - Nets 107

It is so tough to put money on either of these teams that really the bet should be on another game… but if you are a New Yorker and want to follow, root, and bet on one of your teams?... Then put that money on your heart… and pray.

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The Knicks are 7-1 ATS versus the Nets over the last 3 seasons.

34 of 51 games in this series have gone UNDER since 1996.

Knicks are 2-1 ATS versus Brooklyn at Madison Square Garden the last 3 seasons.

Nets: PG Kyrie Irving (unvaccinated) Out ** SG Ben Simmons (conditioning) Out ** SF Kevin Durant (knee) Out ** SG Joe Harris (ankle) Out

Knicks: C Nerlens Noel (knee) Quest ** SF RJ Barrett (ankle) Quest ** PG Derrick Rose (ankle) Out

Nets: SF Bruce Brown, PF Kessler Edwards, C Andre Drummond, PG Patty Mills, SG Seth Curry

Knicks: SF Quentin Grimes, PF Julius Randle, C Mitchell Robinson, PG Kemba Walker, SG Evan Fournier 

Nets

Points: Kevin Durant 29.3 (out)

Assists: James Harden 10.2 (gone)

Rebounds: Andre Drummond 9.0 (2nd game with team)

Steals: Andre Drummond 2.0 (2nd game with team)

Blocks: Nic Claxton 1.1 (gone, to a weird world of DNPs)

Knicks

Points: Julius Randle 19.6

Assists: Julius Randle 5.3

Rebounds: Julius Randle 10.2

Steals: Nerlens Noel 1.2

Blocks: Mitchell Robinson 1.6

Nets: Steve Nash

Knicks: Tom Thibodeau