Brooklyn Nets: Over The River And Through The Bowery To MSG We Go

From the desks: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH & KICKING CANS DOWN 33RD STREET WITH JIMMY

EAST RIVER SHOWDOWN

TONIGHT

BROOKLYN NETS

vs.

NEW YORK KNICKS

FROM

Jimmy's Father's House

Not the kind of start most anticipated ...

There's a video circulating of Kyrie not wearing a face mask while at a party.  In light of the NBA's COVID protocol, the league is investigating whether or not the video is recent, and if in fact, more than fifteen people were in attendance.  If so, Irving can expect to face disciplinary action.  

Kyrie remains out of action during what the team classifies as a personal matter.  I'm glad Sean Marks' finally took the matter out of Coach Nash's hands and put it into his own by issuing an official statement before Tuesday's game.  It was unfair that Nash had to continually field the litany of media questions - understandable, the media has a job to do, but ultimately unfair.

Irving last played on Jan. 5, against the Jazz.  To date, Irving has missed the last four games against Philadelphia, Memphis, Oklahoma City, and Denver.  Flatbush split the games with two wins and two losses.  Likewise, he is expected to be out Wednesday against the Knicks and again Saturday against Orlando back at Barclays Center.  

The NBA has implemented a 72-game schedule this season.  Brooklyn has so far played twelve games. Irving has participated in seven, with one missed game due to scheduled workload maintenance.  Otherwise, through his ongoing absence, Kyrie has now missed 45% of Brooklyn's games this season for reasons other than injury.  Since signing with Brooklyn, he has played in just 27 of a possible 84 regular-season games (although 52 games stem from last season's injury and subsequent surgery).  Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving this season have played just six games together in which the Nets own a 3-3 record.

Durant, against the Nuggets, scored a game-high 34 points, distributes a game-high 13 assists, and secures a game-high nine rebounds in leading the Nets to a six-point victory at Barclays Center.  Durant's three-pointer with 27.9 seconds left in regulation essentially seals the deal.  Caris LeVert adds twenty points in a bench-high 26 minutes.  Getting the start, Bruce Brown goes 8/11 from the field for 16 points with three assists and six rebounds in an effective 26 minutes.  The victory snaps a two-game skid.  Flatbush enters Wednesday's action with a 6-6 record.

🏀

Mounting minutes and dwindling points best describe the Knicks' present condition.  

After averaging 104.3 points en route to a 5-3 record through their first eight games, they've lost their last three in a row while averaging just 89 points.  Coach Thibodeau's Knicks nevertheless enter Wednesday's action with a hard-earned 5-6 record.

Twenty-year-old sophomore RJ Barrett currently leads the NBA playing an average of 37.9 minutes per game.  Barrett averaged 30.4 minutes last season as a rookie.  Julius Randle is tied (with Russell Westbrook) for fifth-highest with 37.1 minutes per game, giving the Knicks two players in the top ten.  Indiana is the only other team with two players in the top ten.  Barrett and Randle have played in all eleven Knicks games.

Against the Hornets on Monday, the second night of a back-to-back, Randle scored a season-low eleven points on 2/9 from the floor and 7/8 from the line while playing a season-low thirty minutes.  It was the Knicks' third game in four days.  Otherwise, Randle is averaging a double-double this season with 22.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.  Last season (64 games), Randle averaged 19.5 points and 9.7 rebounds in 32.5 minutes. 

Despite Monday's 109-88 loss against Charlotte, the Knicks are the second stingiest team in the NBA, yielding 105.5 points per game.  They're also the second most offensively challenged team in the league averaging just 100.1 points per game.

N.Y. Knicks: Culture Club and the Mecca of Dysfunction

From the desk of:  DUTCH PANTS CAN'T JUMP

No Zion Williamson; No Kevin Durant; No Kawhi Leonard

THE OFF-SEASON THAT NEVER WAS

DEFLATION NATION

Daddy Dolan hands the MSG keys in 1999 over to his son, James Dolan.  The new boss straightaway declares Latrell Sprewell the enemy.  General manager Ernie Grunfeld smartly jumps ship with haste.  Incoming general manager Scott Layden foolishly catapults the Knicks into salary cap hell in 2000 by trading legend Patrick Ewing and his expiring contract.  And in December 2001 head coach Jeff Van Gundy quits.

So begins the James Dolan Era ...

Since taking over control of the club, New York Knickerbockers amass the worst record in basketball.  A charter member of the NBA, from 1946 through 1999/2000 the Knicks post an all-time 2,156 - 2,023 (.516) record.  Under Dolan however they achieve a mere 622-920 (.403) record to date with just four winning seasons, five playoff appearances, and just one post-season series victory to speak of.  Ten times they lose at least fifty games in a season including the last five in a row.

I don't have the stomach for parsing the innards of this mess.  Dissecting the last two decades of egregious futility and organizational decay is enough to make a coroner projectile vomit.  But what has become painfully clear to all is the cantankerous and implosive manner in which Dolan runs his operation, making him a leading (if not the leading) reason why premium NBA players seem increasingly disinterested in joining the New York Knicks.  The true mistake is in believing players around the league remain blind, deaf, and dumb to New York's front office shenanigans.  Low and behold they pay attention.  And it comes to pass, again.

Seven different persons have filled the office of general manager under Dolan.  That averages out to a new general manager every 2.7 years.

• Scott Layden
• Isiah Thomas
• Donnie Walsh
• Glen Grunwald
• Steve Mills
• Phil Jackson
• Scott Perry

There's no need revisiting the Isiah Thomas Era outside of acknowledging the unmitigated disaster that it was.  The league office interceding and pressuring Dolan into parting ways with Thomas speaks for itself.  Dolan then retains the league wide respected executive Donnie Walsh, whom he soon tramples under foot in a personal and desperate attempt at securing Carmelo Anthony.  After which Steve Mills returns for a second stint with the Knicks.  How and why he survives Phil Jackson I'll never know.  His continuing employment remains a cosmic mystery to me.  Be that as it may, he and Scott Perry together presently serve to form an army of none.

Meanwhile ten different persons have served as head coach prior to David Fizdale's arrival.  That averages out to a new coach every one and three-quarter seasons.

• Jeff Van Gundy
• Don Chaney
• Herb Williams
• Lenny Wilkens
• Larry Brown
• Isiah Thomas
• Mike D'Antoni
• Mike Woodson
• Derek Fisher
• Jeff Hornacek
• David Fizdale

In today's NBA fame and fortune can be had anywhere.  The bright lights of Broadway or Madison Avenue exposure no longer hold sway.  The lure of New York City still exists for as long as it doesn't entail playing for an organization so poorly run as Dolan's Knicks.  Free agents previously demonstrated they wanted nothing to do with the Knicks in 2010 (don't @ me with Amar'e Stoudmire).  Evidently the same still holds true today.

Outside of being drafted, why would anyone willingly come play for the Knicks?  Say what you will about this, that, or the other.  Odds are you're probably right.  But what remains indisputable is that Knicks Culture is a product of Dolan's machinations.  The man spends upwards of one billions dollars to renovate Alien Nation where fans, certain media, and even former players are banned from the arena.

If it weren't for tourists ensuring a full house the organization would otherwise find itself in more dire straits.  But for as long as Dolan remains insulated by tourist global warming Madison Square Garden will continue transforming itself into the Mecca of dysfunction.

Knicks vs. Nets: Battle of the Boroughs - I

From the desks of:

DUTCH PANTS CAN'T JUMP  and  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

AFTERMATH

The opening sequence in New York City's fledgling Battle of the Boroughs is done.

With the trading of Carmelo Anthony, both the Knicks and Nets are back to zero - thus ending one chapter in this turf war, and beginning another.

The Nets may have been first to order a tactical retreat.  And it was the correct decision.  But make no mistake, only the Knickerbockers own stupefying dysfunction prevented them from raising the white flag first.

To borrow a phrase from the Ken Burns documentary, Baseball, the Nets invasion into Knicks territory, and their occupation of Brooklyn, has indeed been  -  "...something like a war." 

You might say the original Brooklyn Tea Party moment came when Bruce Ratner purchased the New Jersey Nets back in 2003 from the failed Yankees/Devils/Nets consortium, then announced his intentions for shipping the team across New York Harbor, and into a new arena being planned for construction along fabled Flatbush Avenue in downtown Brooklyn.

This obviously garnered attention from the Knicks, whose monopoly on the city was potentially coming under threat for the first time in their history.

Although Ratner's announcement came at a time when the New Jersey Nets were in the midst of making back-to-back NBA Finals appearances, groundbreaking in Brooklyn wouldn't take place for another seven years.  His plan was naturally met with fierce opposition; local, civic, political, and otherwise; putting him on the defensive, and besieging the Barclays Center/Atlantic Yards project with lengthy court battles and setbacks.

Bruce Ratner (a former city commissioner under Mayor Ed Koch) very obviously benefited from a more friendly, obliging city/state government almost 60 years after former Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley similarly petitioned the city/state for eminent domain at the location of Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, with a desire to rebuild a replacement stadium for aging Ebbets Field, but was denied straightaway by Robert Moses.  Ratner ultimately gained court approval in Nov. 2009, and by March 2010, was finally conducting groundbreaking ceremonies.

By this time, however, Bruce Ratner ran out of cash.  Years of litigation and a downturn in the economy left him light in the pocket, and scrambling for new investors.  

Enter Mikhail Prokhorov, present majority owner of the Nets and Barclays Center.

• UPDATE: Prokhorov Sells 49% Stake of Nets 

 
If anyone fired the first shot heard 'round the city, it was him.  Prokhorov audaciously launched the Billboard Wars in 2010 by commissioning a Nets mural a mere two blocks away from Madison Square Garden.

Jim Dolan strikes back with a billboard affixed on a building inside the construction site of Atlantic Yards (since renamed Pacific Park), facing westbound traffic along Atlantic Avenue, featuring Amare Stoudemire pictured in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn,

The Billboard Wars of 2010

Initial invasion campaign featuring Jay-Z

Placed by Knicks on 7th Avenue at Flatbush Avenue, Park Slope; 

within blocks of Barclays Center construction site.

Then came the Battle for Melo.

Remember how the Denver Nuggets came "this close" from trading Carmelo Anthony to the Nets?  

Remember how that threw Jim Dolan's guitar completely out of tune?  Remember how he trampled all over Mike D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh in order to seal a quick deal with Denver, but not before Mikhail Prokhorov took a parting shot at the Knicks upon announcing the Nets were pulling out of the Melo sweepstakes?

Remember how the Nets then stole the headlines the very next morning soon after completing an overnight deal with the Utah Jazz for Deron Williams, who at the time was a highly regarded point guard entering his prime?  Remember how the tabloids/radio talkies were in general agreement in so far as the Nets swinging a better trade?

Isn't it funny what else competition can do?  As Barclays Center nears completion, Jim Dolan orders Madison Square Garden undergo a one billion dollar renovation in an effort to remain on par with a brand new arena across the river.  Do you think he would have been rushing to get that done were it not for the Nets?

Fast forward - Barclays Center opens for business.  In an effort to fulfill Mikhail Prokhorov's short term goal of winning a championship, (then) general manager Billy King mortgages away the Nets future in a trade with the Boston Celtics.  King essentially transacts the Nets 2014 #1 draft pick; 2016 #1 pick; 2017 #1 pick/first overall; and next year's 2018 #1 pick; for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

An act of folly equal to, and even surpassing, anything occurring across the river.  

In any event, each organization was now forcing the other into making hasty, and at times nonsensical decisions.  Each was pushing the other to its financial limits, exhausting resources with wanton abandon, but getting nowhere.  Coaching casualties piled high on both sides as well.

Any and all efforts ... both sides ... complete fail.

The fallout from this trench-like brawl is only now settling, but at least the Knicks followed the Nets lead and have finally withdrawn back to their camp.

The front along the East River will be there for another day.  Because truth be told, the on-court Knicks/Nets rivalry is yet to materialize, as the opening confrontation in the Battle of the Boroughs was waged between owners.

Mikhail Prokhorov is arguably still dictating terms.  Think about it ... he initially escalated hostilities, then was the first to cease fire.  He smartly owned-up to his mistakes, then proactively reset the organization's future course early last year with haste and conviction  As a result, the Nets are moving towards recovery well ahead of their East River rivals.  Then again, after posting an historically bad 20-62 record last season, Prokhorov recognized there was no other choice (especially when looking to sell a minority stake in the team).

The Knicks, meanwhile, remain helplessly mired in reactive mode.  In that respect, some things never change.  The Dolan enterprise has been hoping to reset their direction towards the positive for 17 years now.  But where as the Nets are already one year into their reconstruction, the Knicks are still clearing out from under the rubble of yet another mass organizational implosion.

All that being said, the initial clash of clubs was interesting to say the least.  What remains now for these respective teams is to readdress the on-court business of basketball for a change.

Deron Williams is gone; Carmelo Anthony is gone; Phil Jackson is gone; even Brook Lopez is gone.

The 2017-2018 season truly begins changing the narrative.

Brooklyn Nets: What Goes Around Comes Around

From the desk of:   THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

 

HELLO BROOKLYN 

Twenty Two Days Till Tip-Off

 

 

BROOKLYN NETS:  Payback Comes In Many Form$.

After a deal to play their home games in Manhattan fell through, the first season for the team we now call the Brooklyn Nets opened in Teaneck, New Jersey.  That's because pressure from the establishment; the New York Knickerbockers; forced the New York/New Jersey Americans of the fledgling American Basketball Association out of town before they ever got started.  The Americans/Nets had to set up camp in relative anonymity on the outskirts of the city where they stayed since their inaugural 1967 season.  Forty five years later, that all changes on the first of November.


Back in the day, recognition for the new club was hard fought, but came in due time.  And with Dr.J on the team, what an era it was.  Then came the NBA/ABA merger.  When the NBA merged with the ABA, the Knicks hit the Nets hard in the pocket as New York exercised their right to impose territorial fees, which was not the case when the ABA existed as the NBA's rival.  The cost to join the NBA was already more than just an unsettling sum in 1970's dollars.  The additional Knicks tariff effectively cost the Nets organization the services of their franchise player, Julius Erving.  Owner Roy Boe sold Dr. J to the Philadelphia 76ers to cover the costs of both the NBA entrance fee, and the Knicks tariff.


When the Nets relocated to New Jersey yet again for the 1977-1978 season, the Knicks nailed the Nets with a second territorial tariff for re-invading New Jersey.  With a few smatterings of success along the way, the Knicks and even the New Jersey Nets themselves proceeded to render the club inconsequential in N.Y.C.'s eyes for the better part of the next twenty five years.


Once the Dolans purchased the Knicks and Madison Square Garden, as long as the Nets remained on the peripheries of town, their monopoly was secure.  Under Dolan's ownership, for the better part of a decade it was demonstrated to Knicks fans the product on the court was a non issue.  Isiah Thomas was free to destroy the organization as he saw fit without interference, or nary a peep from his owner/boss.


Along the way came the proposed West Side Stadium project for the Jets Football team.  Opposing the project was perhaps Dolan's greatest moment.  As vanguard of the monopoly, the Dolans/MSG attacked the Jets proposed stadium with fury.   Once the project was soundly defeated and the Jets found common ground with the Giants, Jimmy Strings went right back to playing his guitar.  The Knicks or Rangers were never his passion gig.  At the time, Madison Square Garden was.


Were it not for West Side, Jimmy Strings would have been content playing in his band.  The short term mistake moral of the story here - With no competition comes no worries - that is until Bruce Ratner purchased the Nets and announced plans to relocate club to Brooklyn.  The March 10, 2010 groundbreaking ceremony for Barclays Center also effectively initiated a frantic effort at Dolan's  behest to renovate Madison Square Garden.  Additionally, with direct competition staring Madison Square Garden, the Knicks, and James Dolan in the face, the owner suddenly had immediate and pressing reasons to improve his on-court product with haste.  This was so contrary to his want for remaining in the background while Isiah Thomas ran the organization into the ground for so many years as Dolan's personal supreme allied commander.


Fast forward - Commissioner Stern effectively forces the Knicks to "unseat" Zeke, and hire Donnie Walsh as General Manager.  Two years later, the Nets involvement in the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes drive up the trade price for the star forward and figuratively set off riot gas into the Knicks front office.  Genuine interest on behalf of the Nets, not to mention a credible chance of landing Anthony caused the Knicks to fork over what many still consider a ridiculous dowry to secure Melo's services.  At the time, the still unresolved situation regarding the NBA's collective bargaining agreement complicated matters.  The Nets ultimately pulled out of the deal when Mikhail Prokhorov announced the trade became too complicated and stopped making sense.


For the time being and for good reason as we'll see, the Nets seemed more content watching the Knicks press conference in which Jim Dolan stuck an apple in (now former) Coach DAntoni's mouth, then wiped his feet on Donnie Walsh and kicked him to the curb.  The Knicks owner giddily surrendered everything Denver wanted in return for Carmelo during negotiations that in my opinion were marked by folly.  The Nets on the other hand wound up enjoying the last laugh of the trade deadline by pulling off the ultimate coup.  Under the cover of night, the Nets secured guard Deron Williams from Utah in a trade, trumping the Knicks acquisition of Anthony.


Indeed, Jim Dolan all but punched the eject button on Donnie Walsh's stay with the Knicks.  The owner's course of action was nothing short of stupefying considering Walsh was the very person who miraculously, and almost entirely, un-did all the wrong wrought upon the organization over the previous nine years.  Today, the Knicks front office continues to exist in a state of chaos, and grows  more erratic by the month.  What no one should fail to realize however was the reason Jim Dolan took a lead in the Melo sweepstakes was born of the same motivations he had for opposing West Side - capitalism, or more precisely, Jim's monopoly.  For the second time ever, Jimmy put down his six-string only when the empire was threatened, this time by the Nets.


On November 1, 2012 the future of these two organizations starts anew.  From Teaneck to Long Island, and back to New Jersey again, all the Knicks have ever done is cause the Nets hardships, and directly contributed to some of their identity issues. They served their inconsequential neighbors with multiple relocation fees, and effectively caused the Nets to relinquish (sell) the rights to Dr. J.


Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is Dolan's chief competitor now, and his team will play in downtown Brooklyn.  After forking over numerous millions of dollars to the Knicks for the right to exist, the Nets have taken up residence in the city's most populous borough.  This time, the Manhattan Knicks aren't entitled to a dime.


Better yet, now faced for the very first time with direct competition for the city's fans and dollars, the Nets and Barclays Center have caused the Knicks to spend considerable sums of money on hasty, and long overdue MSG upgrades. The Nets have additionally instigated the Knicks to assemble a roster of ill-fitting, injury prone players with max contracts.  And with their most recent signing, the Knicks have officially become the oldest team in the league.  Meanwhile, the Nets front office has seemingly transitioned away from the Rod Thorn years very effectively.  Of course, the team's play on the court will ultimately determine that.  But the roster GM Billy King has assembled for Brooklyn's inaugural season, on paper at least, looks like an Eastern Conference contender.


In twenty two more days, the real rivalry will tip-off on the court.  But with the Nets mere presence in Brooklyn alone, the Knicks are already learning that payback for all that rotten treatment of the Nets in years gone by, is turning out to be a real bitch; and an increasingly expensive one at that.


.....Guess what goes around, comes around.

Mike.BTB

Brooklyn Nets: Mikhail Prokhorov Putting His Money Where His Mouth Is

From the desk of:   THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

August 2012

BROOKLYN NETS: Nets Owner Aims Shot Across MSG Bow.



Hey Little Man..., Don't worry.  It's all relative.


Back during the 2010 Draft Lottery show, when he officially first burst on the scene, and once the lottery picks were set, Mr. Prokhorov hinted to the lovely reporter interviewing him, that if the new Nets owner was made to reveal his five year plan for winning a championship on TV, he would have to kill her.  Of course that was said tongue in cheek, as Prokhorov was obviously playing off the initial, mysterious, international, business tycoon/secret agent persona, he arrived in town with.


In effect, that was his way of saying hello to the NBA, America, and most importantly, Brooklyn and to his new direct competitor.  What he gave fans that night, was, for all intent and purpose, the first impression of Mikhail Prokhorov.  The first message he conveyed to the team's fans was one  predicated on winning.  Mind you, the Nets roster was far less skilled then, unlike the one Billy King just recently assembled.  So on both points; death and winning; those were bold words back then.


But that wasn't when he offered his formal hello to the Knicks.  Mr. Prokhorov took care of his initial introduction to the Manhattan team a few months earlier with a hallmark card in the form of giant mural painted high above 8th Ave, a mere two blocks from MSG.  That bold maneuver precipitated the Billboard Wars.  Jim Dolan rolled out two very brief campaigns, and nothing more for over a year and a half since.  Meanwhile, Brooklyn's billboard campaign continued in earnest, till this very day.  So if there were any fights to be picked, Prokhorov kicked sand at Dolan first.


Then Mikhail left the country, off to Russia.  And you can just ask Pussy Riot; the all-girl punk-rock band arrested and jailed as dissenters in Moscow; how lucky Prokhorov really is to be safely back in the States.  The Nets owner decided to take on Vladimir Putin, and run for President of Russia.  Joking aside, there was a real possibility his ownership of the Nets would be placed in a Trust, if in fact he become the elected leader of modern day Russia.


To the relief of Nets fans, Prokhorov lost the elections, and is finally back in town to antagonize the Knicks, which is right where he should be.  For due to his political aspirations, and playboy/tycoon's need to tempt fate, the result was spending too much time away from the team.  And I in fact, felt his absence was even hurting the Nets.  Back in March of this year, I wrote a post imploring the Nets owner to get back to work running the club.  His latest "Little Man" arrow aimed directly at Jim Dolan is the exact reason; the epitome even; why.  I argued then, as the Nets roster was still in flux without Deron Williams back in the fold yet, among other issues facing the team, but especially with the Knicks tripping over themselves at the same time, I thought it was incumbent upon Mikhail Prokhorov to maintain a presence in town, and at least manipulate the media.  I reasoned, being as Mikhail Prokhorov was such a charismatic guy, he himself was a team asset being underutilized.  And taking a jab at Jim Dolan is a perfect example, in a time when you're still trying to make an impression on your new fan base, of using the media to stir things up, and perhaps win some sentiment, and sway more fans the team's way.


At the time, the next we really heard from the Nets owner was during the Courting of Carmelo Anthony.  That got things even more heated between owners of the Knicks and Nets.  There were no personal attacks this time per se.  But when Mikhail Prokhorov finally did intercede, he did so to inform every one the Nets were out of the running for Melo's services.  Jim Dolan wound up getting his man, but at a steep price.  The Nets then proceeded to smuggle Deron Williams into New Jersey under the cover of night, and trump the Knickerbocker's trade to acquire Carmelo Anthony.


Another sentiment Mikhail Prokhorov verbalized on several occasions over the pass two years, has been his intention to turn Knicks fans into Nets fans.  In my daily experiences throughout the Borough, Mikhail Prokhorov, if not the Nets themselves, indeed have the attention of Brooklynites.


For me personally, I felt the buzz around town was a little tardy on arrival.  I'm sure the Lock-Out had much to do with the lull.  But I say, so did Mikhail Prokhorov's prolonged leave from the team.  Since the unveiling of the team logo, and concerts a month away, the Borough is like a bee hive now.  Calling Jim Dolan "Little Guy" is part of that.  The Nets currently enjoy increased media and print coverage; team apparel is being purchased and worn throughout the neighborhoods; and team comparisons, and debates between fans who have chosen sides, spring up more often now.  Of course, the ultimate factor determining success of failure for the Nets, Prokhorov, and Bruce Ratner; the man initially responsible for bringing the Nets to Brooklyn; is if the fans continue to pack Barclays Center, after the honeymoon effect is over.


During the recent free agent courting of Deron Williams between the Dallas Mavericks, who were making a strong pitch, and Brooklyn still being in the mix, Mikhail Prokhorov offered this assessment of the situation regarding the opposing bidding owner saying - " Let the best man win.  If he (Mark Cuban) wins, I will crush him with the kickboxing showdown."  Now that's my kind of owner!  Kick ass and ask questions later.  Or why bother asking questions at all?  Just kick ass.

Making cool quotes to the media and taking jabs at Jim Dolan, in the Nets current situation, works.  Isn't that what little brothers do?  Everyone from Mikhail Prokhorov on down realizes they will not be taking New York City from the Knicks any time soon.  That will be a process.  Although I felt Mr. Prokhorov could have started tweaking people back in Winter, he is here now, and fired-off one of his first returning barbs straight across MSG's bow.


All the above encompass just a small role in a greater part Prokhorov must play.  At the heart of everything is money, and he has a bunch of it.  The state of the Nets on March 2010; Groundbreaking Day at Barclays; was questionable at best.  While Bruce Ratner spearheaded the move to Brooklyn and the construction of Barclays Center, the project almost broke him; literally, figuratively, legally, and financially.  It was under these circumstances we were first introduced to Mikhail Prokhorov; the mysterious Russian billionaire/basketball fan, and now said in hindsight - savior.


A tremendous task lay ahead towards taking the talent level of 2010, and flipping it into a competitive product by Opening Day in Brooklyn, which is now exactly seventy days away.  In doing so, there was a huge price to pay, and some concessions to make.  After all the alterations Billy King made to the roster, Mikhail Prokhorov paid the bill in full.  Lest we forget, there is still a serious Luxury Tax attached to the Nets' player upgrades.  But the team representing Brooklyn stands to be a very good one right off the bat.  However, their surplus of draft picks, and their salary cap flexibility are all but gone now.  On paper at least, the Nets are a potential top-five contender in the Eastern Conference.  Will all these maneuverings really pay off?  We'll see.  But the bills have been paid in full by a guy who so far, has put his money where his mouth is.

BROOKLYN NETS

Mike.BTB

N.Y. Rangers ~ MSG Empties Out In Silence

From the desk of:   RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS  &  THE BRICK CITY DEMONS

BATTLE OF THE HUDSON

CHILLER THEATER!

GAME FIVE ~ FINAL

DEVILS      5

RANGERS  3

Madison Square Garden engineers better check for cracks in the foundation before they let anyone back in for a possible Game Seven.  After Wednesday night, the place may not be safe to re-enter. Your Broadway Blueshirts were a smash.


The Call of the Garden Wild shook the walls of MSG like the renovation of the World's Most Famous Arena hasn't.  You could hear them from 33rd Street all the way to Trenton.  Maaaa-aaarty! ...they screamed.


This was the third period.  MSG was bedlam.  To start, everyone was just mad.  The Devils jumped out to a near instant three goal lead in the first period.  Everything after that was nothing short of a classic.


The Rangers came all the way back from being down 3-0 midway through the first period.  Their Captain almost willed them back by himself.  Marian Gaborik tied the game at three as the third period commenced.

Then the Devils took a deep breath, resettled themselves, and took aim at the Rangers again.  At one point, Brad Richards mistakenly took a most remarkable shot at his own goalie, but it drew a needed whistle.  The Rangers really needed one at that point.  But not like that.


The Devils were surging-on with fury ever since the Rangers scored goal number three.  Then Ryan Carter, the guy who the Rangers like to beat-up any chance they get, and the man Carl Hagelin failed to cover for this one shift, beat the Rangers.  He scored the game winning goal with just over four minutes to go.  The Devils would score a fifth goal on an empty net.  And Madison Square Garden emptied in silence.


Unlike the more experienced Devils, the Rangers; through five games only; are proving they are too young to know how to finish.  In that regard, Brandon Dubinsky would have helped imeasurably over the previous four games.  Now the young Blueshirts are forced to be stupid enough to win two in a row.




More later.





Mike.BTB

N.J./BKN Nets ~ Team Lacks a Head of State

From the desk of:   THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

Neighborhood view; Barclays Center from Bergen Street.

N.J./BROOKLYN NETS:

On This Snowy Morning, Brooklyn History Was Made.

The Nets' Owner is Far Away and Took the Team's Only SIZZLE With Him.

With the Knicks in distress, Mikhail Prokhorov should be present and leading his team

through the duration of the season.

On the court, the Nets already have more problems than a math book.  And now cracks seem to be appearing in their foundation.  Their principle owner; Mikhail Prokhorov; for the moment at least, has better things to do.  If his Russian political aspirations turn out favorably, he has announced he will indeed sell his team shares into a Blind Trust; which effectively takes him out of the picture, without having to relinquish ownership of the team.



While the Net owner's quest to be a benevolent modern day tsar is not new, his endeavours none-the-less detract from the organization's dwindling level of whatever cache they still have in light of their move to Brooklyn later this year.  And in my opinion, his absence has hindered..., or, has done little to sway the opinion of two players who seemingly want to play in Brooklyn.



Prokhorov's arrival on NYC's basketball landscape sent shock waves throughout James Dolan's monopolistic empire; more so than Bruce Ratner created with his initial announcement to move the Nets to Brooklyn.  There is no denying since Prokhorov took over the Nets, it's hard to talk NYC basketball without mentioning both teams now.  He came to town and added sizzle.  That's more than the Nets organization could ever lay claim to before.  Last season, the Nets and Knicks off-court battle for Carmelo Anthony brought good exciting anxiety to the city as well.



Today, not so much.  At present, the media scours through a thesaurus seeking synonyms for the word futility when ever the conversation turns to the area's state of basketball.  Additionally, much of the initial skirmishing between the competing capitalists has long since subsided.  The Billboard Wars are something from before the Lock-Out, and since threatened with direct competition due to the construction of Barclays Center, Dolan's haste to renovate Madison Square Garden is well underway.  These days, both teams quietly remain in their neutral corners and left to deal with their own  respective problems.



It's increasingly becoming more critical to the Nets' immediate future that Mikhail Prokhorov again becomes an in-area presence in order for the Nets to gain a sure footing in Brooklyn.  The Nets need that media presence and the sizzle he added to the newly created inner-city rivalry.  James Dolan is on the hunt for microphones and TV time again as evidenced by his latest N.Y. Rangers press conference. But for the Nets, an on-site owner like Dolan is needed as well.  Merely being available for comment or to do a radio spot could go a long way towards keeping the Nets relevant in light of a poor season thus far.



Any proactive measure right now couldn't hurt.  The Nets situation with Deron Williams is tenuous at best.  On the one hand he's very open to staying and signing on with the Nets.  But not if the future looks bleak.  Deron Williams has displayed open dissatisfaction with the state of Nets right now.  Brook Lopez may not only be injured physically.  By now he must be injured emotionally as well with all the proposed trade talk.  All other plans remain stuck in the mud until the Dwight Howard situation comes to a head, or Deron Williams leaves first.  The clock is ticking.



To borrow an old Cold War phrase, for the Nets it's two minutes to midnight.  Mikhail Prokhorov's newest problem on the Howard front is not what trade package Orlando might accept; Orlando themselves; or anything of the kind.  The problem is now Patrick Ewing's attempts to convince Dwight Howard that New York and Brooklyn are staunch Knickerbocker loyalists, and that the Brooklyn Nets have no real chance of building nor enjoying a dedicated fan base of their own.



The Nets' owner is dropping the ball right now.  He needs to be on hand to at least reinvigorate  interest around town and bring back some of the sizzle he brought last year.  If he doesn't, Dolan surely will.  Jimmy Gigs may not know basketball OR hockey, but he knows show business and owns his own channel and cable network.  So who knows what he's liable to do.



Truth is, Reality has both teams in one hand and slapped them across the head with the other.  This is precisely why it's a prime time for Mikhail Prokhorov to be a visible head of State.  James Dolan's Knicks are reeling, and have been for years now in spite of their roster overhaul.  Someone with Mikhail Prokhorov's swagger can potentially one-up James Dolan when ever the need arises.  But he must also be an active member in creating an environment; and not just an arena; where marquee players will want to play in.



Owners do that.  Not General Managers.  Lest we forget the Knicks still don't have one.  Just watching James Dolan trip over himself is proof enough that Mikhail Prokhorov has had a tremendous impact in Dolan's life.  And right now, the Nets are in dire need of some new sizzle.  They need to give Deron Williams a reason to stay and Dwight Howard a reason to come here.  Patrick Ewing has been promoting himself as somewhat of a Brooklyn expert lately and telling Howard how WE can't be a viable fan base.  As a former player; one of the NBA's Top 50 All-Time Players; and being a former Knicks great; maybe that carries some weight in Howard's eyes.  That's why Mikhail Prokhorov must be at the lead and ensure the first steps this team takes into the Borough of Kings are taken with strong confident strides.  Those steps are taken by Owners.  Not General Managers.



Something happened over the night that has never happened before in the history of Brooklyn.  For the first time ever, snow fell and accumulated on the roof of an arena where the Borough's new professional basketball team will play starting later this year.  Unless Mikhail Prokhorov puts his rubles where his mouth is, his prediction of a championship within five years has as much a shot as the Germans did in the snow drifts at Stalingrad.



Both teams are floundering right now.  Therefore there is nothing to rave about.  But Mikhail Prokhorov brought to the area what no Net player, nor anyone else in the organization has thus far.  He brought some sizzle.  For right now, he's the only one who can bring some sizzle back until something else gives.  And by that, I don't mean the roof of Barclays Center caving in under the weight of it's first ever snow fall.

All buttoned up for Winter.

Flatbush Avenue

Mike.BTB

N.Y. Rangers ~ Bring on the Flyers!

From the desk of:   RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

NEW YORK RANGERS:   Seize The Moment!!

The Devils; Check.  The Islanders; Check.  Both locals have been dispatched.  Summon the team from down I-95.  Bring on the Flyers!  The Battle for First Place is on!




I'm happy to say Brandon Dubinsky scored his second goal of the season Thursday night against the Islanders.  And you know things are going well when goalie Marty Biron picks up an assist on the play.  Martin Biron by the way, faced twenty-six shots and turned back twenty-four to secure the Rangers third straight victory.  It was Biron's seventh win of the season against just one loss.  That's also two wins for him in the Rangers' last three games.  When do we get to call him the best back-up goalie in hockey if people haven't started already?




Michael Del Zotto scored what proved to be the game winning goal but not before Marian Gaborik notched another.  The resurgent forward is now in a tie for the league lead in goals after scoring his twentieth of the season half way through the second period of Thursday night's 4-2 win over Long Island.




Besides winning, something else the Rangers have been doing consistently this season is fighting.  Thursday was no different.  Stu Bickel was just the latest Blueshirt Gone Pugilist in a Ranger World Gone Rough-House.  What did Joe Thornton of San Jose say about us?  We were the softest team he ever...blah blah blah?  If this is soft, I don't want to be a Bully.




That's right, I went there!  It's time.  Bring em on.  Bring on the Broad Street Bullies.  The New York Softies need this challenge.  One way or another they'll get a better feel for what it takes to take an even bigger step forward in their development.  And more immediately, they'll know better if they can indeed be the Broadway Bashers they've been striving to be.  All their efforts this season have led them to this very game.  And it couldn't have come at a better time.




Thursday night's victory over the Islanders gives the Rangers forty-four points and places them a mere two points now behind the Atlantic Division leading Philadelphia Flyers who were idle.  A win Friday night against their Brotherly Rivals would not only give the Rangers a share of first place, - this young band of Rangers would also receive one of the loudest ovations they'll ever experience short of winning a Stanley Cup.  Defeating their division foe now would make Madison Square Garden roar like it did when the greatest heavyweight fighters in the world once fought there.  The confluence of first place, the Flyers, and Friday night speaks to me.  It says there is hope for a real special night.




Everyone knows what's transpiring off-Broadway these days.  But it has remained a little under-spoken.  And why not - It's still December.  Staying tough through injuries has not gone unnoticed however.  And so I think Ranger Fans are finally ready to shake the building like it hasn't been for a very long time.  Even before this game starts, no one will get to hear the great John Amirante sing the National Anthem because the joint will simply be way too loud.  We'll see his lips move and him waving his hand, but all you'll hear is Let's Go Rangers raining down from the crowd!  I'll be there.  I'll be one of them.

Make no mistake, this is a big moment in the Blueshirts' season.  The game itself isn't necessarily detrimental in the grand scheme of the season yet.  Instead this is a timely challenge of their will and resolve.  The Rangers have methodically built up to this game with the steady momentum of a glacier.  They now arrive at Friday night's showdown having gotten here first and foremost with the League's second stingiest defense next to Boston's.  More importantly, they are finding net and getting contributions across the board.  And call em Smurfs for the sake of being facetious, but the truth is they're fighting all comers...and winning.  Now the next step for the young Rangers is learning how to seize the moment.




That said, after some marvelous goal tending by Biron, Henrik Lundqvist should be rested and well prepared for another encounter against the Flyers.  In the last Battle of I-95, the King shut-out Philly 2-0 at MSG.  This game is also a great set up for when these two teams meet again in Philadelphia for the 2012 Winter Classic.




Come Philly; come to 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue where some of the greatest fights ever have taken place.  We accept the challenge.  Come ready.  Like many fights in this arena, this one can become an instant classic too.

FRIDAY NIGHT:

Battle for the Atlantic Division

 

Philadelphia Flyers

21-8-4;  46 Points  -  1st Place

vs.

NEW YORK RANGERS

20-8-4;  44 Points  -  2nd Place

FROM

7th Avenue at 33rd Street

NYC

Mike.BTB

N.Y. Rangers ~ Home, Home on the Rink

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

NEW YORK RANGERS:  The Long Road Home For Tex's Rangers Ends Tonight. 


You can take the Rangers out of Canada, but the schedule makers aren't letting Canada get away from the Rangers just yet..  After a four game tour of the Great White North, the Toronto Maple Leafs will help the Rangers re-christen their partially renovated, old arena tonight in the Blueshirts' home-ice opener. 



Finally, right?  Now let's just hope the 7th Avenue road-warriors don't become strangers in their own house.  Maybe with a new look to the place, they can start a new trend of playing better Hockey at home.  Because if they don't, even with a sprucing up of the joint, the jeering will still sound the same, if not angrier because fans would now be anteing up even more cash to see them stumble at home.



Making a welcome return to the blue line tonight should be Michael Sauer who's been out with a bum shoulder.  And while Marc Staal remains sidelined, maybe the Rangers can get back to utilizing more traditional pairings with Sauer back on ice; not to say that we've been defensively challenged lately...



...The Rangers are still waiting for their forward lines to punch through.  Punch through?  They couldn't stick their way through a wet paper bag right now.  So the second call from this blog goes out again:  Calling all Forwards!  Calling all Forwards!  Come in Forward Lines?  We need you.  Over.



Three things come to mind regarding tonight's first game at MSG-4 1/2.  We get to see Ryan Callahan sporting the C on his jersey for the first time.  It's been a nice ascension through the ranks from Rookie to Captain for him and for us fans to watch. 



Secondly, it's probably best for Brad Richards if this game gets played and put behind him as quickly as possible.  He's still yet to provide a glimpse of the play-maker we hopefully signed to a ridonkulously lengthy contract.  But having to prove his worth all in one night; the first night at home after seven games of pedestrian play on the road; is probably sixty-minutes I'd rather fast-forward.  Then in home-game two with all the extra-fan fare and pomp out of the way, maybe he can finally get around to commanding the first-line and power play for us.  But of course in order to make that happen, we must stop committing dumb penalties ourselves.  I digress.



The last item to ponder is Marian Gaborik.  Is he the scorer from what seems like the ancient past?  Or is he still the apparition from last season?  And what frame of mind will the fans be in with regard to their phantom forward?  Will the Ranger fans show up ready to pounce if he provides flashbacks of the Invisible Man?  Will the home crowd make him feel as if he's skating in soup if he looks even slightly ineffective?  Or, will True Blue fans attend this home stand with an open mind and risk being pleasantly surprised by letting him play with something to prove without us dumping on him?  Then again, since when did four goals in seven games (one of those goals came on the PP) stop Ranger fans from... anything?



We'll see.  In the mean time, Calling all Forwards!  Your Liege needs help.



The Blueshirts' Odysseus-like odyssey to get home finally ends tonight indeed.  But instead of Odysseus reclaiming his queen, the Rangers get us. 



Hah!



Let's go Rangers!




SLAP SHOT:  Hey!  With an almost one billion dollar renovation under way and the lower bowl work complete, I hope the historically atrocious ice surface at MSG was also studied and addressed.  With all that money being spent, and taking into consideration all the reconfiguring MSG's ground floor must undergo to accommodate all the events it hosts, the hope is some new method has been adopted to keep the puck from bouncing around like a Harlem Globe Trotter's prop.  Because while what the Globe Trotters do is intended to be funny and entertain millions, many times the old ice surface at MSG just made the Rangers look plain stupid in front of us.

Last Shots of What We Can Officially Now Call - The Old Garden:

Mike.BTB

N.Y. RANGERS Hockey ~ It's That Time Again

It's time again to drop the puck on another season!



2010 ~ 2011

NEW YORK RANGERS HOCKEY

starts up again Friday night.

I AM A RANGER!

MIKE.BTB

Can I have the keys to the Trolley?

Tonight, I'm gonna borrow the Trolley and park it in front of Madison Square Garden.

I'll be at the Hockey game tonight.  Rangers vs. Carolina Hurricanes.  I plan on having a good sit down and go around the BloggerHood tonight after I get home.

Can someone check in on She-Fan tonight?  It's a good thing for Jane (bad for Michael) she's in the hospital.  The Yankees signed Randy Wynn today and Johnnny Damon being a Yankee in 2010 is a dead issue now.  She's gonna be upset!  I'm glad I'll be out tonight.  When I see the mushroom cloud rising over the BloggerHood tonight from my seat at MSG...I'll know what happened.

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/
http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

Battle of the Hudson resumes: DEVILS vs. RANGERS

Last night the Battle of the Hudson resumed again.  The New York Rangers, my team, lost a 1-0 shootout contest to Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils.  Both goalies, Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist did not allow a puck to enter net for 60 minutes, in offsetting shut-outs.  Martin Brodeur in head to head battles versus Henrik Lundqvist has only managed 8 wins against King Henrik and the Blueshirts.  Lundqvist has been victorious over Brodeur and the Devils 15 times.  That's a nice record to have against the likes of Brodeur.  It palls in comparison to Martin's record which inched upwards another notch with his shutting out of the Rangers at MSG last night.

This Blog didn't cover Martin Brodeur becoming the all-time winningest goalie in NHL history.  Nor did I make mention of Brodeur becoming the all-time shut-outs leader.  I will get back and revisit that soon.  As an area fan, if even if you're not from these parts, I, quite simply, enjoy having someone of Martin Brodeur's talents playing in my backyard.

I say this as a Ranger's Fan Blue Blood.  As long as they are not playing the Rangers, the Devils are cool with me, and have been since they arrived here from Colorado.  It's the New York Islanders that earn my ire.

We pick up this Blog with Martin Brodeur notching career shut-out number 107 over the Rangers last night at MSG.  This isn't the first post I envisioned for my Blueshirts, but Martin Brodeur deserves it, and I'm damn glad he plays here in the area.

The New York Rangers?  Yea, they're my team....have been since about 1977-78.  I'll be getting into them a lot.  I'll be doing stuff about the Devils too.  OK, I'll cover some Islander stuff too.  Here!  Try this on!

(This one's for you Hammer!)

But for now it's helpful for you to know that I am A Ranger!  I like the Devils.  I detest the Islanders, but doesn't that make this more fun?

Trust me.  The Rangers can wait for me to start ripping them.  It's coming though.

Tonight, let's just congratulate both teams on a very well played game.  Fellow Ranger Fans, let's take a time-out and just give Brodeur credit.  He's great, and as a Hockey fan, let's appreciate his career while he still tends net in our backyard, even if it is Jersey.

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