NBA 2021/22 on Wednesday
The Battle of the Boroughs between the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks, first played in 1976, promises to reach its next climax. However, this time the Knickerbockers have a more than real opportunity to win.
For Kryie Irving will continue to be out for the Black and Whites. And as we will learn in the Nets Knicks tip, the towering point guard has always tipped the scales in recent hair-raising victories over their city rivals…
The Nets have an outstanding record of (14-6) and will be right up there in the title race again this year. However, like last year, I expect another early exit in the playoffs.
The reason for this is that without Kyrie Irving, the Nets will be decisively weakened in the important games that will matter. Because the phenomenal point guard still refuses the Corona vaccination since the beginning of the season!
The consequence? Brooklyn lost only two of its last nine games – but that was against, of all teams, the mighty Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns. The rest of the recently defeated teams were more in the “must-win” category.
The Nets could also lose out in the New York City derby. Incidentally, this also has to do with the fact that the black and whites usually excel against much weaker teams, but quickly run into trouble against capable teams.
After all, Brooklyn is not for nothing the only NBA team with a win rate of over 60% that has a negative record (4-6) against franchises that have won over 50% of their games so far this season.
And that category happens to include the neighbouring Knickerbockers, who have won eleven of their twenty NBA games so far. Things even seemed to be going really well for the NYK recently.
The Knicks recently knocked off the powerful Lakers and Hawks – two teams that made the playoffs last year. In between, a clear 97-118 loss to the Suns occurred, but they are not a benchmark anyway.
The Suns have won each of their last sixteen league games and are currently performing like the Harlem Globetrotters in their prime. But back to my Nets Knicks analysis, because here a bet on the Knickerbockers is the only correct decision.
The reason for this lies in the current odds distribution of the bookmakers in combination with the Knicks’ probability of winning, which in my opinion is at least 50% even in the most pessimistic case.
Let’s start with the Nets’ personnel situation: Here, Blake Griffin has recently dropped out of the starting rotation, who was still in the starting lineup for the first 17 games of the season, but has been passed over by coach Steve Nash. Not without consequences, because since then there has been a lack of good playmaking!
But now let’s take a look at the odds. According to various bookmakers, Brooklyn are the heavy favourites to win, with odds of around 1.36, while a success for their city rivals would result in a payout of around 3.20.
However, this is where it gets particularly interesting. Because while the Black and Whites won the last two New York City derbies, on both occasions BKN were ahead by less than five points – and only thanks to a phenomenal Kyrie Irving.
In fact, Kyrie Irving was not only the Nets’ best player in both derbies with 43 and 34 points respectively, but even both teams! Without his tremendous contribution from the last two games, it will now be much more difficult for Brooklyn to pull off the win.
Conclusion: The Nets are at the top of their conference, but a breakdown according to the quality of the defeated opponents makes it clear that the New Yorkers are far better at their mandatory tasks.
After all, the black and whites are the only NBA team with a win rate of over 60%, but at the same time they have a negative record against more capable franchises that have won more than half of their games.
In addition, Kyrie Irving is out for the home side. However, the latter is elementary, having been one of the architects of the last two narrow victories over the Knickerbockers with his outstanding performances.
My Knicks Nets tip is a logical one: Knicks get the win!
