New York Knicks vs Brooklyn Nets: Preview, odds, how to watch, more

Fresh off an eventful NBA Trade Deadline, the Battle for New York looks a little bit different as the New York Knicks host the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. Can the Knicks work towards regaining supremacy in their own city?

Brooklyn Nets (33-23) @ New York Knicks (31-27)

Game Details:

Location: Madison Square Garden in New York, NY
Time: Monday, February 13th at 7:30 p.m. ET
Channel: MSG Network

Betting odds:

Spread: NYK -2.0
Over/Under: 223.5
Moneyline: NYK (-130), BKLYN (+110)

Matchup:

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: there will be no Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving when the Nets travel across the river to take on the Knicks on Monday night. After Durant was traded to Phoenix and Irving was shipped off to Dallas, the Nets feature what feels like a whole new team.

Against the 76ers on Saturday night, the Nets started a lineup of Spencer Dinwiddie, Cam Johnson, Mikail Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Nic Claxton. That’s a lineup that features four players who weren’t on the team just a week ago.

Familiar faces like Cam Thomas, Ben Simmons, Royce O’Neale, and Joe Harris played 16+ minutes off of the bench, but head coach Jacque Vaughn used 12 players as he starts to get a feel for the minutes and rotations of his new squad.

Meanwhile, the Knicks feature a pretty similar team to the one they’ve been running out there the last two months. Disgruntled Cam Reddish was dealt to Portland, along with a few other players who were out of the rotation and a first-round pick, so the Knicks could bring in guard/forward Josh Hart.

After only one game, Hart looks like a tremendous addition as he was everywhere in his Knicks debut, providing the team with an energy and a toughness that they had lacked. His arrival also seemed to remove Miles McBride from the Knicks’ rotation as head coach Tom Thibodeau appears dead set on only using nine players in each game.

Over the last week, the Knicks are 3-1, while the Nets have lost three of their last four; although, none of those losses came by more than eight points. The Knicks are scoring 111 points per game over that span, while the Nets are scoring 110.5, so the offenses are pretty much in lockstep recently, and New York is allowing just 108.5 points while Brooklyn is giving up 111.5 per game.

Brooklyn continues to be a dangerous team from beyond the arc, and New York still struggles to defend the three due to their defensive principles, so that could be a huge determiner in who comes away with the win here. If the Knicks can shore up their perimeter defense, as they did in holding the Jazz to just 28.1% from deep, they should be able to come away with a win.

Prediction:

Knicks 109 – Nets 104

New York is just 15-15 at home, which isn’t particularly inspiring, but they are playing some really good basketball of late, so it’s hard to bet against them. With Durant and Irving gone, the Knicks also have the two best players on the court in Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson, which means if a team needs to rely on a player to take over, it will, weirdly, favor the Knicks. Given their defensive play of late, I’m going to back New York to come away with the win here.