The Nets and Knicks are arguing over who is the less worse team from New York
This is like Paul Giamatti and Danny Devito arguing over who’s going to win the Miss America pageant.
It all started when Metta World Peace — that noted basketball analyst who predicted the Utah Jazz or Los Angeles Clippers would win the 2017 NBA championship — tweeted his belief that the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks will meet in the Eastern Conference finals this season. The retired New York native played five seasons for the Pacers from 2002-06 and 29 games for the Knicks in 2013-14.
@pacers will play the @nyknicks in the eastern conference finals this year
— Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) August 13, 2018
We should note that the Pacers currently own the sixth-best odds of reaching the NBA Finals out of the East, the Knicks are pegged to miss the playoffs for a sixth straight season, and most everybody chalked this up as a wacky prediction from a guy who was once suspended for an entire season after fighting a fan in the stands and who now plies his trade as a standup comedian and BIG3 participant.
There was one person who took World Peace’s prediction seriously: Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie, who believes his charges are the true kings of New York basketball. Credit to Dinwiddie for actually tagging the Knicks on his tweet and not having the gall to predict a Nets run to the Finals.
🤣 The @nyknicks!? My guy can’t be serious they’re not even the best team in NY. https://t.co/DMvMuvMspx
— Spencer Dinwiddie (@SDinwiddie_25) August 14, 2018
The sad part of that statement, though, is that Dinwiddie actually might be right, especially considering the status of rising Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis is up in the air following his ACL surgery.
You would think the Knicks would leave this alone, because arguing whether or not they are better than the Nets is just another depressing reflection on the state of the franchise, but no. Enes Kanter, an expert at not knowing when to leave well enough alone (just ask LeBron James), had to engage.
Too early to talk $h!t
I got this saved tho
U just poked the wrong bear booiii 🔥 pic.twitter.com/m7b3Uvk5k6— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) August 14, 2018
“U just poked the wrong bear booiii” is quite the statement from a guy whose cumbersome contract was traded to the Knicks after the Oklahoma City Thunder determined he “can’t play” in the playoffs.
So, tune in when the Knicks visit the Nets for their second game of the season, because you’re not going to want to miss this classic battle between Spencer Dinwiddie and Enes Kanter, two of the all-time New York basketball greats. Both teams won’t have even started trying to lose to each other yet!
For the record, World Peace predicted the Nets would make the playoffs as an eighth seed last season. They finished 28-54, one game behind the Knicks and 15 games out of a playoff berth in the East.
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Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
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