The matchup doesn’t have quite the same luster as it did last year, but if there was any doubt before Monday’s matinee, the Nets made an emphatic statement that Brooklyn is New York’s best team.
The win over the Knicks pushed the Nets record to 17–22 overall and 7–1 in 2014. Sure, it is not exactly where it should be nearing the halfway point in the season, but it is certainly a dramatic improvement over the team’s abysmal start. Just a month ago, these same struggling Knicks blew out the Nets by 30 in Brooklyn. The Knicks. meanwhile, continue to struggle, as the Nets are climbing up the standings, now only two-and-a-half games behind the Atlantic division-leading Toronto Raptors.
In fact, the Nets’ recent success is similar to that of last year’s Knicks team. And it was the injury to Brook Lopez that has brought about that success as other players have stepped up in his absence. That Knicks team was also undersized and relied on the perimeter play.
But just like the disastrous start and recent turnaround, the Nets know not to get too low with the losses or too high with the wins.
It is only one victory, but it is an important one for the Nets as they continue to gain equal billing with their rivals across the East River.
Tom Lafe is a 6-foot-5 sports-world insider with a middling high school basketball career who believes the Nets will be driven by the success of the team’s big men.