New York Knicks

Manhattan Knicks Rivalry , Nets

Phil Jackson prefers Nets roster to Knicks

Posted on: May 23rd, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 3 Comments

 

Phil Jackson

Phil Jackson (AP)

Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson has already spurned Brooklyn's offer to become the next Brooklyn Nets head coach, saying he has no interest in returning to coaching. But that hasn't stopped him from talking about the franchise on more than one occasion.

After saying to Dan Patrick earlier this week that Brooklyn was the most attractive destination coaching-wise, Jackson expounded on his comments by commending Brooklyn's roster in the New York Times, saying that he prefers it to the New York Knicks:... MORE →

TAGS: , ,
Manhattan Knicks Rivalry , Nets

Study Concludes Nets Have NBA’s Worst Home Fans, Knicks Have Best

Posted on: May 16th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 4 Comments

 

The Nets lead the Knicks in Oculus, but not in fan equity, study finds. (AP)

When looking at brand equity, or "capturing the size and intensity of a team’s fan base," the Brooklyn Nets were ranked 30th out of 30 NBA teams for the second straight year, according to a study done by Mike Lewis & Manish Tripathi of Emory University. The New York Knicks rank first, also for the second straight year.

The study focuses solely on the difference between predicted home revenue and actual home revenue, calculating predicted home revenue with a number of factors, including market size, winning percentage, and all-star players. The study does not consider television revenues or corporate presence in the cities.

The study adds that the Nets ended last despite having the 5th-largest improvement from last season of any team, which gives you an idea of the brand identity crisis the franchise had in New Jersey in the first place. "The Brooklyn Nets are a fascinating example, given the hype that surrounded the move to Brooklyn, and Jay-Zs 'ownership,'" Lewis & Tripathi added in the article.

The Nets don't seem to put much stock in the methodology.

"With all due respect to Emory University, that is a seriously flawed study," Barry Baum, Chief Communications Officer of the Brooklyn Nets & Barclays Center, told The Brooklyn Game.

Read More: Emory University -- Which NBA Team has the Best Home Fans? And Who has the Worst? Hint: It’s New York!

TAGS: ,
Contests

The BK Playoff Game: Two On The Line

Posted on: May 16th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian No Comments

 

1) Indiana closing it out. After splitting the two games in New York and then sweeping the two-game home stretch in Indiana, the Indiana Pacers hold a commanding 3-1 lead on the New York Knicks and are one more road victory away from guaranteeing a spot against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Outside of a dominating 105-79 victory over the Pacers in Game 2, the Knicks have looked exceedingly vulnerable, a chilling contrast from their record-setting start to the season -- fewer three-pointers, Carmelo Anthony at small forward instead of power forward, and a lot of one-on-one offense. In Game 4, the Knicks shot just 35.6% from the field, and 61 of their 87 field goal attempts came from three players (Anthony, J.R. Smith, and Raymond Felton). If the Knicks continue their freakish stagnancy, they won't last beyond tonight.

2) Golden State staying alive. This is a personal choice. I'm a big fan of the Golden State Warriors and want to see them survive. They're down 3-2 to the San Antonio Spurs, but this is their last stand at home to force a Game 7. Earlier in the playoffs, Zach Lowe of Grantland called the Warriors' new offense -- particularly, Stephen Curry's new role thanks to the absence of David Lee -- "a glitch in the program." There's few things I enjoy more than watching a shooter dismantle a team from afar. Here's hoping Stephen Curry can do that tonight.

3) Golden State's Backcourt. On the heels of my gushing over Curry, I'd be remiss not to mention his partner in crime, Klay Thompson, whose production has plummeted since his 34-point, 14-rebound career night in Game 2 -- 17 points in Game 3, 10 points in Game 4, and just 4 in Game 5. The Warriors will need another great night from Thompson along with Curry to extend the Warriors' season to Game 7 -- will they get it?

TAGS: , , , ,
Contests

The BK Playoff Game: Carmelo’s Historical Heroball

Posted on: May 14th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian No Comments

 

Each day that there's a playoff game, we'll have three things to watch in the NBA playoffs. Each note will be accompanied by a contest. We'll announce winners after each round. Here's today's three things to watch:

1) Indiana doing it again. The Pacers now have a 2-1 lead over the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs, and it's no accident. While New York runs its offense through Carmelo Anthony at a historic rate (more on that in a bit), the Pacers utilize a balanced attack. Three different players (David West, Paul George, Roy Hibbert) have led the Pacers in scoring in their three games against New York, and they've gotten important contributions from George Hill and D.J. Augustin (in Game 1). It's not just their offense: the Pacers have done an excellent job funneling three-point attempts away from New York like no team has been able to this year. At home, their success should continue tonight.

2) An unlikely hero. With San Antonio joining the world in expecting Stephen Curry to shoot the Warriors through the playoffs, the Warriors got two unlikely heroes in their two series wins: guard Klay Thompson (who put up an enormous 34-14 in Game 2) and Harrison Barnes (who somehow took 26 field goal attempts in their Game 4 overtime victory). I'm guessing Thompson will do it again: you can only stay at home on Curry for so long without giving Thompson some open looks.

3) Melo the shooter. As Kevin Pelton of ESPN noted today, Carmelo Anthony is currently using 38.7% of his team's possessions in the playoffs, the highest of any multi-series playoff performance ever. He's taken 230 field goal attempts in the playoffs, just ten fewer than his next two teammates combined. If that trend continues and Anthony continues to shoot poorly -- just 39.1% in the playoffs an 29.5% from deep -- it could spell trouble for New York.

TAGS: , , , , , ,
Contests

The BK Playoff Game: 3 Things To Watch In Tonight’s Playoffs

Posted on: May 7th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian No Comments

 

Kevin Durant, Mike Conley

Will Thunder strike again? (AP)

Each day that there's a playoff game, we'll have three things to watch in the NBA playoffs. Each note will be accompanied by a contest. We'll announce winners after each round. Here's today's three things to watch:

1) Indiana vs. Manhattan. The Pacers defeated the Knicks 102-95 in Game 1 on the road, thanks to a balanced effort -- six Pacers scored in double figures and they led by 16 heading into the fourth quarter. With a win today, the Pacers would secure a dominating home-court advantage -- needing just two wins with as many as three more games at home. The Pacers produced a convincing 44-30 edge in rebounding, unexpectedly led by Brooklyn-born guard Lance Stephenson.

2) Kevin Durant. Oklahoma City barely eked out a victory in Game 1, winning 93-91 against the Memphis Grizzlies, one of the league's best defenses and a team that starts Marc Gasol, the league's Defensive Player of the Year. Kevin Durant led OKC to victory behind 35 points on 13-26 shooting, adding 15 rebounds and a 19-footer to take the lead for good with 11 seconds left. There's few ways -- if any -- to stop Kevin Durant, but if any team has the capability of doing it, it's the Grizzlies, who employ both Gasol and Tony Allen, arguably the league's best perimeter defender. Memphis has a bevy of talented scorers, and the Thunder barely won even with Durant's routine explosion and may need an unlikely hero to seal Game 2.

3) Carmelo Anthony's shooting. Anthony is no stranger to shooting -- Game 1 marked the 44th time this season that he's recorded more field goal attempts+free throw attempts than points. He averaged 28.7 points on 28.8 FGA+FTA per game in the regular season, which makes this proposition basically a 50-50. The Knicks will be most successful if Anthony's shooting efficiently -- will he?

TAGS: , , , , , ,
Nets

Sunday 3-on-3: Atlantic Division

Posted on: March 31st, 2013 by Justin DeFeo No Comments

 

The NBA regular season is nearing a finish and with that, a clear pecking order is starting to show in the Atlantic Division. But, with three teams sure to appear in the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Atlantic Division has plenty of story lines. To flesh some of those out, we're hitting you with a Sunday roundtable, but because this topic is so important we're shifting from our normal three-man crew to four. Boom.

1. Fill in the blank: _________ will win the Atlantic Division?

  • Justin DeFeo: The Knicks - I think the Nets have a slightly softer schedule than the Knicks to end the season, but with a four game cushion, I'd expect the Knicks to cling to their lead and wrap up the Atlantic Division for the first time in nearly 20 years. By the way, Nets fans should lose no sleep over the Division title, but whats more important here is avoiding Miami in Round Two.

  • Andrew Gnerre: The Knicks. The Nets are 4 games back with nine to play. The Knicks schedule is much tougher (eight of their 11 remaining games are against playoff teams), but that's just a lot of ground to make up on a team that's won seven straight and looking more like that group from November. And good for them. I'd hate to see them go 20 years without a division title. Unrelated, the Nets have won the division four times since 2002. Oh I'm sorry, did I say "unrelated?" I meant to say "very related and SHOTS FIRED."

  • Max Weisberg: Knicks. You can blame this on the Nets’ inability to “finish the deal” as well as the Utah Jazz organization. Multiple times were the Nets a half game back of the Knicks in March, and each time, things didn’t pan out. 3/17, the Nets trailed the Knicks by a half game and couldn’t beat the team from Atlanta that unloaded Joe Johnson on them in a salary dump this summer. 3/18, a helpless Jazz team who at the time, was a half game back of the Lakers for the 8th spot, couldn’t beat a severely depleted Knicks team IN UTAH.

  • Benjamin Nadeau: The New York Knicks will win the Atlantic Division. There's just too much that needs to happen at this point for the Nets to take the crown. It would probably involve rushing back Joe Johnson before he's healthy too. It would really be nice to move up to 2nd or 3rd, to avoid Miami as long as possible, but I'm not really sure if PJ is the type of coach that will concern himself with the Atlantic Title. There's just far too much inconsistancy here from the Nets to catch the Knicks now.

2. The most dangerous team in the Atlantic Division in the playoffs is ________.

  • DeFeo: Again, its the Knicks. Tyson Chandler has a chance of being the most dominant defensive player and Carmelo Anthony the most dominant offensive player in any given series, including one with Lebron James in it and that should scare any team. Also, their three-point happy attack adds a bit of variance to every game.

  • Gnerre: Just like, physically? The Celtics because Kevin Garnett is an unhinged maniac. But in terms of winning games? The Nets. I know that when hot, the Knicks have looked better this season, but it's close enough to the playoffs for me to flip the switch to full-blown irrational fan mode. Vintage Deron, Breakout Brook and Healthy Joe haven't all showed up to the same game yet, but they could. And that's a better team than Melo going nova surrounded by JR Smith and old guys. Speaking of old guys: Et tu, Kenyon?

  • Weisberg: Highest seed. Going into the playoffs, I believe that the Nets will be a better team than the Knicks. Unfortunately for Brooklyn though, they are currently sitting 3.5 games (assuming Knicks win tonight, Nets lose tonight) back of NY in the standings with 9 games to play. What this means is that they will likely get the four seed. And if they advance past the first round, they would have to play a team in the second round that just won 27 games in a row and are the defending world champions. Goodnight Brooklyn.

  • Nadeau: The Brooklyn Nets are easily the most dangerous team. It seems, at times, that the Knicks' season is unraveling more and more by the day, if it wasn't for a surging J.R. Smith, the Nets might have the division lead right now.If the Knicks can get all their pieces back and healthy, it could be a different story, but Felton has been garbage lately and any team that starts Kenyon Martin at this point has more issues than the team that starts Reggie Evans. Nets, somehow, play better team ball and that will benefit them in the playoffs.

3. T/F: An Atlantic Division team has any shot to beat Miami.

  • DeFeo: False. The Nets have not been competitive with the Heat since The Decision and although the Celtics and Knicks could pose a threat, no team in the East can win four out of seven.

  • Gnerre: False. Very false. If I knew any other languages I'd be saying the word "false" in those languages right now to drive the point home. The only team in the league with a chance to beat the Heat is the Spurs, no matter what that elderly man on the bus back to Jersey from the Nets-Grizzlies game says. (That guy thinks the Pacers can beat the Heat; that guy thinks so many things.) But yeah, this is false. Very falska.

  • Weisberg: Only true if ALL of these things occur before the playoffs; First, LeBron James will have to abruptly retire and announce that he is going to attempt a career in professional baseball. Second, an asbestos leak must occur inside American Airlines Arena, thus forcing the Heat to play all four of their “home” games inside their opponent’s arena. Third, Chris Bosh must get so upset from the first and second events occurring, that he goes and punches a fire extinguisher and is forced to miss the entire series. So yes, it is possible.

  • Nadeau: False. It's tough, as a fan and somebody that spends so much time caring about this team, it's always hard to take off your homer glasses sometimes. But this one is easy, there's really nobody in the Eastern Conference in Miami's league this season. I think there's something to be said about the way Chicago played and rattled them last week (hard, physical fouls, refusing to let them get dunks, transition points at any cost) and if other Eastern Conference teams adopt that strategy, they could steal one or two. The problem is winning four. I don't think anybody is beating Miami this year, unfortunately, and it's possible that only San Antonio can take them from the West.

    • TAGS: , ,
Brooklyn , Nets

Well, this is pretty cool

Posted on: March 26th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 1 Comment

 

Yup: a Nets chant, in TD Garden, while the Knicks are playing the Celtics.

Before the Nets moved to Brooklyn, one of their official slogans was "It's All New." It always rung hollow, because the team was awful and the overall mood was dominated by the simple fact that the franchise never cared about New Jersey. But now? It really is. And that's awesome.

Edit: an earlier version of this listed the game at Madison Square Garden. That was incorrect. My apologies for being an idiot. I am still excited about this.

TAGS: , , ,
Nets

ESPN: Nets have under 20% shot at winning Atlantic Division

Posted on: March 20th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 1 Comment

 

The Brooklyn Nets are one game back from the New York Knicks for the lead in the Atlantic Division with 15 games left on the schedule, but what's their shot at winning the division outright?... MORE →

TAGS: , , , ,
Nets News & Analysis

D-Will: We’ve Been the JV Team in NY

Posted on: March 15th, 2013 by Max Weisberg No Comments

 

Deron Williams is quite aware of who has dominated the New York hoops scene. “You can say we’ve been the JV [team in this area] at times,” Williams said Thursday.

The New York Knicks have drawn electric Madison Square Garden crowds no matter how they were playing. The New Jersey Nets, not so much. The Nets' mantra this season, along with winning, is to make some noise in NYC. They want recognition and, as Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has stated, "we want to turn Knicks fans into Nets fans." Winning a division title in their first season upon entering the borough might do the trick. Williams explains:

“I think it definitely would mean a lot to clinch the division title to the fans, to the organization, I think it would be huge. There’s no doubt about that,” Williams said.

Of course the players just focus on their own game and don't look at how other teams are doing. Ok, Joe Johnson confesses he occasionally looks at the standings. "I tend to peek every now and then,” he said. “You kind of want to gauge where you’re at and what it’s going to take to get where we’re trying to be." Ok, maybe more than occasionally. "Yeah, I look at it quite often actually.”

And here's what he might have noticed: If the Knicks lose to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday and the Nets defeat the Atlanta Hawks, they will be all tied up for the first time this season.

Based off of Mike Mazzeo's story on ESPN/NewYork.com.

TAGS: , , ,
Nets

Sunday 3-on-3: Humphries, D-Will, Division

Posted on: March 10th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 5 Comments

 

D-Will's looked like a new man since the All-Star Break. Is it for real? (AP)

Interesting week in Brooklyn Nets land... three blowout victories, one semi-permanent benching of a former starter, and the resurgence of their franchise player. Let's break it down, 3-on-3 roundtable style.

1. Kris Humphries is out of the rotation. Right call?

  • Devin Kharpertian: Well...... MORE →

TAGS: , , ,
Advanced Statistics , Manhattan Knicks Rivalry

Nets 88, Knicks 85: Advanced Box & Reaction

Posted on: January 22nd, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian No Comments

 

Check out the advanced box score from yesterday's 88-85 Nets victory over the Knicks here.

Some brief takeaways:... MORE →

TAGS: , , , , , , ,
Nets , Video

Video: Keith Bogans gets a funky roll

Posted on: January 22nd, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian No Comments

 

Keith Bogans gets "the shooter's touch," otherwise known as blind luck. Watch:

TAGS: , ,