Back in high school, one of my favorite clothing staples was a Knicks jersey adorned with Latrell Sprewell’s number eight. I wistfully remembered this as I pulled a black jersey bearing the same digit from the rack in a Midtown Modell’s last month. This time, the number on my back would represent a player on a different team, Deron Williams, the star point guard of the nascent Brooklyn Nets. Read More
Basketball is back. Three weeks after opening night was canceled in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, four months after the Knicks let Jeremy Lin slip out of town, 13 years since the Knicks’ fluke run to the NBA finals, and two decades since Pat Riley’s tough-guy team captivated New York in the early years of the Giuliani era, fans in the world’s greatest basketball city care without cynicism again.
The Isiah Thomas era and the Knicks’ failed pursuit of LeBron James are old news. The Nets’ long struggle for big-city relevance got lost somewhere in New York harbor. When the teams squared off Monday night in Brooklyn’s new Barclays Center, the city had plenty to cheer about: real stars, the top two spots in the Atlantic Division standings and the eyes of millions upon us. Read More
Much has been made the last several days of the secretive nature of Jay-Z’s conversations while sitting in the front row of basketball games (Knicks and Nets). He covers his mouth to avoid lip-readers, has a secret handshake for friends like LeBron James, and may be using some form of covert CIA-level cryptology to alert his posse that he needs more popcorn. Read More
Last Wednesday afternoon, James Dolan rose from his stool on a makeshift stage in the bowels of Madison Square Garden and shuffled to the podium to introduce Carmelo Anthony, the unstoppable small forward for whom the Knicks had just dealt half of their starting lineup to anoint as the team’s latest savior.
“While we have Read More
