Tonight has to go down as the most historic night in basketball in at least the last 10 years. The underlaying stories and importance of this game were far greater than any game in a long time. The Nets are Brooklyn's team, and they finally have a fan base and a place to call home. They have been a work in progress for just about 25 years now and finally are back on the map. One could argue that they had some great seasons in New Jersey but they have never won a title, and in the NBA, that is how success is measured. With their perpetual failure, the Nets acquired a fan base that adapted a "there's always next year" type of attitude; but each year just got worse albeit closer to this season and the move to Brooklyn. The move to Brooklyn did not just affect the Nets, it also had an effect on the Knicks and altered their attitude. The Knicks had to build themselves into a contender in the past few years so as to not fall behind Brooklyn. They had to change their uniforms going into this season in order to keep up in jersey sales with Brooklyn. And most notably, they had to completely transform and renovate Madison Square Garden. Because of all of this, the glory days of New York (Both Brooklyn and New York) basketball are back.
Tonight's game had a playoff atmosphere and a lot was revealed about both teams:
First, Carmelo Anthony was shutdown in crunch time and as a result the Knicks lost the game. Melo did not have a FG in the last 5 minutes of the game and the Knicks could not execute their offense in the most important moments of the game. Coming out of a time out in the 4th quarter with 1 minute left in the game, Mike Woodson put the ball in Raymond Felton's hand even though he was an abysmal 2-16 from the field at that point. That kind of offense cannot work. The absence of Jason Kidd was surely felt and had he been playing I am sure that he could have settled Ray Felton down, but the Knicks must be able to adapt due to the fact that they are a very old team and likely will be without key players on many nights. J.R. Smith showed some signs of his old self tonight, especially when he had a break away lay up, lost the handle, and then promptly shot a three instead of settling down and letting the offense run its course. All in all, the Knicks need Carmelo Anthony to play at the level he did tonight (35 points) along with Tyson Chandler (28 points) and to have Raymond Felton shoot better than 3-19.
Tonights game will be the first of many between the Knicks and Nets, including 3 more this season, not including the playoffs and each game will have the same intensity and atmosphere. Remember in the early 2000's when both the Mets and Yankees were good and whenever the teams got together there was an incredible tension in the air and the rivalry was palpable? That is what the Nets Knicks match ups will be like, for a long time coming. Expect to see both teams in May and potentially even one in June, if all the cards fall into place.
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