Photo: Barclays Center
Alert the presses and strike up the band! In case you didn’t notice, there was big news on the hardwood for both professional basketball teams in New York Wednesday evening.
How so, you ask? Well, the New York Knickerbockers and Brooklyn Nets did something they have not done simultaneously in some 342 days; win a game on the same night! The last time both NY based NBA teams won on the same day was March 24, 2016. Brooklyn defeated King James and the eventual NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers at the Barclay Center, 104-95 that night, and the Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls 106-94 at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Here is a quick look at both team’s Wednesday win, and a brief state of the union for both.
Good for Kenny Atkinson and his Nets team. They were finally able to end their, not-so Sweet 16 game losing streak, and at the same time crack double digits in wins with their 109-100 victory in Sacramento. The now 10-49 Nets rode their best player, center Brook Lopez’s 24 points and eight rebounds into victory Lane for the first time since Friday, January 20. Lopez managed to eclipse the 10,000 point plateau with a second-quarter dunk, making him just the second player in Nets history to reach that milestone.
Photo: 300lbsofsportsknowledge
Only Buck Williams has scored more points in a Nets uniform than Brook. It truly is a shame, that a team this bad, will not be in the running for the NBA’s top draft choice (thank you Billy King). These guys need EVERYTHING, but unfortunately like Spaulding from Caddyshack, “they’ll get nothing and like it!”
Following the Knicks 101-90 win in Orlando, Jeff Hornacek’s team must still leapfrog the Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Miami Heat, to challenge the Detroit Pistons for the eighth and final playoff position. In other words, it ain’t gonna happen! On the bright side for NY, is that Kristaps Porzingis is back following a sprained right ankle against the Cavs last week. The 7’3″, 21 year-old, poured in 20 points and hauled down nine rebounds against the Magic.
Photo: www.usatoday.com
He has also been talking glowingly of Phil Jackson’s triangle offense recently. As of this writing, the Knicks have the 10th worst record in the league, and their odds of winning the overall top spot in the draft lottery stand at a whopping 1.2%. That this is generally thought to be a very deep draft class is good for them, just don’t get your heart set on watching Lonzo Ball or Markelle Fultz run the break at Madison Square Garden for the next decade.
Let’s hope it doesn’t take another almost calendar year for New York’s two professional basketball teams to both win games on the same night again.
