Raise your hand if you thought the Brooklyn Nets would be a No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference at the midway point of this season. Now raise your hand if you had them making the playoffs.

What's that? You weren't sure?

The Nets have walked away as winners in 13 of their last 17 games, which is raising a few eyebrows around the league. Some thought Brooklyn would be an afterthought this season, but Spencer Dinwiddie has always had faith in his team:

“Of course. I told you guys that at the beginning of the season and everybody laughed at me,” Dinwiddie said after practice Thursday, per Peter Botte of Newsday. “Everybody thought I was talking crazy when I said we were better than the Knicks, and that was one of our milestones we were trying to get to — best in the city and one of the better teams in the conference and hopefully the best team in the league.

“That’s years’ worth of growth I’m speaking about, but that’s what we want to do and what we want to accomplish.”

Best team in New York? Those are fighting words to some die-hard fans in the city, but the fact is: Brooklyn (21-22) is far better than the Knicks (10-31) this season.

Dinwiddie, now 25 years of age, has established himself as one of Brooklyn's primary scoring options. The Los Angeles native has made 43 appearances with the Nets this season (four starts), racking up averages of 17.1 points on 45.9 percent shooting from the field (36.1 percent from beyond the arc), 5.1 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per outing.

Dinwiddie and the Nets will look to keep their momentum rolling on Friday night, when they'll travel to Toronto for a matchup against the Raptors.