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| Brooklyn and Manhattan will meet tonight, spawning an intense intra-city rivalry. |
Three years ago the Knicks signed Amar'e Stoudemire, turning their franchise around. Three years ago the Nets broke ground on the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, pointing their franchise in the right direction. Two years ago the Knicks traded for Carmelo Anthony, furthering the strength of their squad, pushing them towards contender status. Two years ago the Nets traded for Deron Williams, bringing in their first piece to an ever-evolving puzzle. In the last year the Knicks brought in Tyson Chandler to protect the paint along with veterans and specialists to fill an all-of-the-sudden deep bench. On the precipice of moving to Brooklyn, the Nets responded by adding do-it-all wing player Gerald Wallace and scoring machine Joe Johnson. And here we are, the Knicks at 9-3 and the Nets at 8-4, 12 games through the inaugural season that the two teams share a New York City residence.
These two franchises may have forged their squads in different fashion, but both are here in 2012 to stay. Both are extremely competitive teams, with enough depth and star talent for deep playoff runs. Each have exploded out of the gates in 2012 and have New York City about as fired up for pro basketball as was did in the 90s. Tonight, Brooklyn and Manhattan meet for the first of what should be an intense, exciting and downright absurd rivalry down the road.
Excitement has been building for this game since the day it was cancelled back on November 1st in lieu of the devastating Hurricane Sandy. The excitement is completely warranted as a basketball-crazed city gets exactly what it wanted, two well-oiled pro franchises with two quality teams set to clash. But the funny part of the game tonight is that while the hype is out of control, it is quite insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
On the basketball court and on paper, this is the 13th game of the season for both teams. After tonight there will be 69 games left for each team, plenty of pre-Christmas basketball and a boatload of time for both squads to fall off the face of the earth, or win 55-plus games. A 40-point loss by either team can almost immediately forgotten about if they go on a winning streak afterward. The players are excited, but they realize this isn't Game 7 of the NBA Finals, or at least most of them do. Joe Johnson, a veteran of 11 years, keeps trying to tell us that the Nets are better than the Knicks. But really, who cares Joe? Aren't you trying to win a championship, isn't that your goal? Shouldn't you be shaking off these comments with, "We're just trying to win a game against a quality team" talk? And Tyson Chandler, why are you trying to explain to us what does or doesn't constitute a rivalry? Isn't that for the media and fans to decide? You're supposed to go out there and compete the same way every single night, no matter who you're playing.
Those two are more of an exception than a rule, but the point is there. This is just another big Atlantic-division clash to the players, but to the fans? No, to the fans, this is enormous. This game is just as enormous as the next three that will succeed it and the next 100 games between these two teams until one of them decides to crumble again, like they both had for the past 8 years. New York City takes the borough rivalry pretty seriously and when you finally have another competitive pro team in the city limits, it's going to ignite unimaginable passions. Barclay's will be a nut house tonight, no matter who wins and by how much. Those who have jumped ship and those who have stayed true to the orange and blue will certainly be loud, audible and probably pretty nasty. That's New York for you, passion taken to the absolute next level.
If the Knicks win, you'll hear all the, "Thanks for a second home", "Should have stayed irrelevant in New Jersey","This will always be our city" talk. If the Nets are victorious, then it's "It's our city now," and "Brooklyn's the borough." Either way, this is only the beginning of what should become a truly exciting and exceptional rivalry in the best basketball city in the world.
It'll be like a one night stand in hell for the loser and a one-day vacation in paradise for the winner, but for the players it'll just be another game. Just try not to tell the fans that.
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