the blooming of a Big Apple rivalry has begun

Wow, do I wish I had gotten tickets to the Barclay Center on Monday. The game had a playoff atmosphere and also resembled a high school rivalry game as the crowd was buzzing for both teams. It is the beginning of a really exciting rivalry. The Nets have established their position and the Knicks have assembled a very strong and deep win-now team. And New York certainly is big enough for both.

This was a statement game for the Brooklyn Nets. In a game where Deron Williams didn't have his shot and Joe Johnson again struggled, the Nets did what they had to do to win. The main numbers:

- Reggie Evans 14 rebounds (in 17 and ½ minutes)
- Jerry Stackhouse 4 for 5 shooting three pointers
- Brook Lopez: 22 points, 11 rebounds, 5 blocks
- Deron Williams: 16 points, 14 assists, 3 steals
- J.R. Smith, Rasheed Wallace, Ronnie Brewer, Raymond Felton combined 8 for 43 (18%) shooting
- Carmelo Anthony 10 for 16 shooting free throws
- Steve Novak 2 points in 18 minutes

A big talking point before the game was who had the better bench. The Nets proved, like they have all year, that they have a group of role players off the bench that don’t have the star power other teams’ second units provide, but are better overall. Reggie Evans is clearly one of the elite rebounders in the NBA. In his last three games he has grabbed 40 boards in just 62 minutes. Stackhouse, Watson and Bogans can all hit a three pointer off the bench, MarShon Brooks is a future star and Andray Blatche provides big man offense. Every player on the team knows his role.

The Knicks have been the toast of New York basketball for a long time, even though it’s been 40 years since they won a championship. But the Brooklyn Nets didn’t just move across the river and join the party as an annoying little brother like the Mets, Islanders or Clippers. They marched in to stay, to make a statement, and to compete now. Not only did they move, but they moved to Brooklyn with authority, created an identity, built a beautiful arena, and assembled a contending team.

The Knicks have a great team. Even without Iman Shumpert and Amar’e Stoudemire, on paper they have everything you want in a team: two strong point guards, a lock down perimeter defender, a defensive anchor in the middle who also owns the paint on offense, a scoring machine, and a bench with a sharp shooter from deep, a big man who can score from deep, a couple other big men defensive anchors, and a guy who provides instant offense. On the PS3, especially with Amar’e and Shumpert, this is a dream team.

But as history shows as well as we’ve seen early in this season, the Knicks are combustible and at times have a real lack of composure. When things start to go wrong they get bad in a hurry. Carmelo, J.R. Smith, Rasheed and Chandler are easily emotionally charged. And the other problem is they have a tendency to put up brick after brick enough to build a small house, especially Rasheed and Smith. Somehow at the end of regulation and in overtime, Carmelo never got the ball as Raymond Felton decided to take all the shots; and when he did get the ball in crunch time, Carmelo missed a half dozen free throws. What happens when Stoudemire comes back and expects to play? That sure didn’t work last year.

The Nets are set up to contend in the Eastern Conference for the next several years. Yeah, that probably sounds like an overzealous fan 13 games into the season, and this will probably be another Heat year, but next year and after that? The Nets made some crazy moves, trading for Joe Johnson and his bloated contract, signing Lopez to a max deal, paying top dollar for Kris Humphries, re-signing Gerald Wallace after giving up big picks, but what the Nets have is a championship nucleus. Humphries is signed for two years, but the rest of the starters (Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, Gerald Wallace, and Joe Johnson) are all contracted to be together for the next four. This is how the Pistons made it to the Finals three years in a row including a championship, having the same group of players together for several years: Billups, Rasheed, Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince. And this Nets group is better! Deron Williams is an elite point guard and Brook Lopez is quickly becoming an All-NBA center. Gerald Wallace does everything well, Joe Johnson has the potential to drop 40 on any given night (as spotty as he is from time to time there’s a reason he got a $119 million contract) and Humphries is a top level rebounder. They have size that can give the Heat trouble. I think they can develop the chemistry to be a championship team. And considering that I’m saying this two years removed from finishing 12-70, that is remarkable.