It was the first of four installments of a presumed “rivalry” that the Knicks and Nets aren’t.
The Knicks had the upper hand in a 121-102 victory, but honestly, I didn’t even know that the teams had played until I read about it in the New York Post. I follow Metro sports closely, so how could that happen? It’s hard to pay attention locally to either team, and that’s an understatement nationally.
The Knicks haven’t been good for decades, and their fans aren’t nearly as elite as they like to think of themselves (ala “The East Coast Lakers”). Sure, there have been successes here and there (e.g., last season’s first-round playoff series win against the Cavaliers), but “here and there” doesn’t make the team great. Come springtime, just about nobody I know thinks NYK will survive a protracted playoff series. They might win a round, but that’s it.
So, what’s with Knicks fans? I think it’s this: the under-40 crowd is used to watching lousy basketball, and mediocrity is as good as it gets. But here’s the thing: if there’s one place where sports mediocrity is never accepted as success, it’s NYC, and New Yorkers have been fed a constant diet of NBA mediocrity (or worse).
The situation is worse for Nets fans because the franchise has always been close to being irrelevant to Metro fans, and the move from New Jersey to Brooklyn didn’t change things. On the court, the team isn’t going anywhere again this season, and the future doesn’t look bright as long as GM Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai are around. NY fans want to see stars play, and the experiment to do just that by assembling “a superteam” with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden) failed. Chemistry was lacking, and injuries piled up. There was too much drama, not enough winning, and when Durant and Irving figured they couldn’t make New York a Nets town … they left.
Since joining the NBA from the ABA, the Nets’ only success came two decades ago in ’02 and ’03, when Jason Kidd led the Nets to NBA Finals appearances. I’m not sure we’ll ever see anything close to that happening again.
Unless and until both local NBA teams change their ways, it’s hard to get excited about what is “a manufactured rivalry.” There are no bragging rights when the Knicks and Nets play each other, at least not like when the Rangers/Islanders, Rangers/Devils, and Yankees/Mets play.
So, the big picture gets in the way of “celebrating” NYC’s NBA rivalry. Worse yet, it doesn’t look like that situation will change anytime soon.
