The Knicks are on the precipice of a feat 25-odd years in the making, and sportsbooks have started taking notice.
Key takeaways
- The New York Knicks are current favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.
- It’s the first time the Knicks are favored to do so since the mid 1990s.
- The Knicks' path to an NBA title won’t get any easier, however, as they still have to take down the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and a host of elite teams vying to represent the Western Conference.
According to SportsOddsHistory.com, the Knicks are favorites to advance out of the Eastern Conference for the first time since the 1993-1994 season, with the chance to represent the East for the first time since the 1999 NBA Finals.
Currently listed at -110 on FanDuel and similarly priced across most major books, the Knicks are healthy favorites to win their series over the Boston Celtics and are favored over the Indiana Pacers, who recently shocked the East’s One-Seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.
“We have a great opportunity,” Knicks' star Jalen Brunson said after a 121-113 win in Game 4. “We’re playing a really good team, and I don’t think we’re playing our best basketball yet. We have a team that’s fairly new this year and we still have a long way to go to be the best that we can be.”
It’s been a long road for one of the NBA’s most popular franchises, who often found themselves at the butt end of jokes about their ineptitude over the years.
I can’t escape the Hard Knicks Life!
— It’s a Hard Knicks Life (@HardKnicksLife) December 26, 2020
Look at this clip from the movie “Soul” that came out today which I’m watching with the kids.
F**K. pic.twitter.com/XbxRviDCcM
In recent years, however, there's been a change of tune in The Big Apple. Since adding Brunson back in 2022 as a free agent, the Knicks have been a perennial playoff team, thanks in part to the 28-year-old’s ascension from key role player to bonafide All-NBA star and MVP candidate.
While that growth helped give the Knicks a centerpiece to build around, shrewd moves headed by President Leon Rose's decision-making only further cemented the Knicks as contenders. Perhaps the most impactful was a trade last October, when New York shipped a package of assets to the Minnesota Timberwolves for power forward Karl-Anthony Towns, whose size and shooting served as a tremendous foil to Brunson’s playmaking ability.
“He’s always been such a gifted scorer at all three levels,” Knicks' head coach Tom Thibodeau said of his big man last month. “But his passing now, he understands better where the double teams are coming from…He’s grown a lot. None of it has surprised me.”
Can the Knicks go all the way?
Assuming the Knicks do close out their series with the Celtics, and take care of business as books expect against the Pacers should the two meet up, it would be the first time in the NBA Finals for New York since 1999.
Should they get there, it isn’t clear who their opponent will be, though according to most NBA Finals odds, the Oklahoma City Thunder are their most likely opponent.
The Thunder are currently listed at -105 at Bet365 to take home the first Larry O’Brien trophy since moving to Oklahoma City in 2008. The Thunder’s likely MVP-winning star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander helped take the club to new heights this year following a 68-win regular season.
The Thunder are currently up 3-2 in their series against their rival Denver Nuggets, and appear likely to square off with the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals later this month. The Timberwolves currently own their own 3-1 stranglehold over the Golden State Warriors.
“The answer is never a hero play or anything out of the ordinary,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after his squad took the series lead on Tuesday. “It’s (about) trusting each other … it’s being who we are.”
