The Nets and Knicks will play their first playoff games this weekend and it’s causing a lot of excitement for the teams and their fans. 

The Knicks play game one of their matchup against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.

They are the No. 4 seed and wrapped up their season with a 41-31 record.

What You Need To Know

  • The Knicks and Nets are in the NBA playoffs

  • Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center can host the majority of vaccinated fans at full capacity

  • This is the Knicks' first trip to the playoffs since 2013, and the Nets are back for their third straight year

The Nets finished off with a 48-24 record and are the No. 2 seed. Their first playoff game will be on Saturday.   

Former champion and Hall of Famer Earl "The Pearl” Monroe joined NY1's Dean Meminger on Tuesday afternoon. 

He said both teams need to play good offense and defense to stay alive in the playoffs.  

Monroe is a former New York Knicks champion and he's keeping his fingers crossed for the team, but he told NY1 that Brooklyn has all of the makings of a championship team.

"I'm actually gonna go with the Nets all the way,” Monroe said. “I really believe in this Knick team and I think this Knick team is a team for the future. One of the great things with this Knick team is before you had players that didn't want to come to the Knicks to play. Now with the Knick team doing what it's doing, now you're gonna have other guys that want to come play with these guys. But if you look, straight on, right now, I really think the Nets are geared to win this whole NBA championship."

The Nets' first playoff game will be against the Boston Celtics, who won their play-in game Tuesday evening against the Washington Wizards to secure the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.