In 1999 a gallon of gas was $1.17. A loaf of bread was around 89 cents.
One number that was much higher in 1999 than it is today, though, is the Knicks’ odds of finally winning the NBA championship. The 1999 Knicks were heavy underdogs to a stacked San Antonio Spurs team featuring a young Tim Duncan and a championship-starved David Robinson. Allan Houston, Charlie Ward, Larry Johnson, Latrell Sprewell, and crew were a whopping +600 dog to win the series over San Antonio.
Bookmakers are giving the Knicks a much better chance against the Spurs this time around as Fanatics Sportsbook has the Jalen Brunson-led New Yorkers as just a +160 underdog in the series.
Game 1
The Spurs are -4.5 favorites at Fanatics for Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals, and are -180 on the moneyline. The total is 218.0.
Ahead of Game 1 of the 1999 Finals, the Spurs were -7.5 favorites and were around -330 on the moneyline. The total was set at an absurdly low 164 points—unheard of in today’s NBA.
Game 1 of the 1999 NBA Finals was also held in San Antonio, although in a different building. Back then the Spurs played in the cavernous Alamodome. The attendance that night was an incredible 39,514.
The attendance for tonight’s game at Frost Bank Center, which opened in 2002, will be half of the 1999 crowd as it seats 18,418 for basketball.
Different teams, different eras
The low total from Game 1 of 1999 is the betting angle that truly stands out when comparing the two Finals matchups. NBA commissioner David Stern had a real problem on his hands back in those days as we would often see final scores like 83-79, or 78-76.
The 1999 Knicks, for instance, played 20 games in the 1999 postseason. They only cracked the 100-point mark twice. Gregg Popovich’s Spurs were equally as futile offensively as they too went over the 100-point mark just twice that postseason.
Those scores were a far cry from the high-flying 1980s, and today, where going over 100 points is the norm.
The 2025-26 Knicks have played 14 playoff games thus far and have eclipsed the century mark every time. The 2025-26 Spurs have played 18 playoff games so far and have, you guessed it, gone over 100 points each time.
Another thing to factor in when comparing the 1999 Knicks and the 2026 Knicks is that the ’99 Knicks were missing their most recognizable player in Patrick Ewing. Ewing missed most of the Knicks’ Eastern Conference Finals series against the Pacers and missed the entire 1999 Finals due to an Achilles tear.
That was certainly factored in when Vegas made its lines for the series.
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