IF THEY have any pride left in their blue-white-orange jersey, if they still understand what it means to be a Knick and the home team at the Mecca of Basketball, where the chant of “De-fense” was created, then Don Chaney’s crew had better show up tomorrow night and play its defensive hearts out.
Jason Kidd’s jazzy Nets step inside the Garden for the first time this season, and for the first time in their history as defending Eastern Conference champions. And the game could turn into one of the most humiliating, lowest moments in the Knicks’ 56-year history.
The Knicks have now quit against the Celtics in the third quarter twice in an eight-day span this December, quit playing defense in both games. It was so bad Saturday night when Boston shot 58 percent, Red Holzman, who despised the Celtics, must have turned in his grave.
If they don’t play defense again tomorrow, the Nets are going to enjoy an intoxicating Garden party with significant future ramifications. The Nets have a chance tomorrow to not only win a game but win over some frustrated Knick fans.
The Garden has booed the 7-14 Knicks enough this season. If the Nets rout is on, the arena may just start cheering for Kidd and Co. That would sting a lot more than boos and make owner James Dolan’s blood boil.
If you thought the 113-90 loss to the Celtics got ugly Saturday, if you think Boston, with Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker, presents matchup problems, the Nets offer much worse. The Nets run and dunk on everyone, but they take the most glee in running and dunking on the Knicks for obvious reasons. They have everything on the Knicks, except a big fan base and a proud heritage.
Considering the immense talent disparity, about the only measure Dolan can take in preventing Knick fans from switching allegiances is keeping the Nets’ YES telecasts off Cablevision.
Recently, Dolan fired a salvo at the Nets. When asked if he’s worried about future attendance at Knick games, Dolan quipped, “When people see this team is more competitive than they thought and it’s still exciting to come to a game, then they’ll be back, the ones who have left us. I don’t think they’re going to New Jersey.”
Still, the Nets, who haven’t sold out the Meadowlands yet this season, not even with Michael Jordan visiting, are trying to woo New Yorkers across the river. At the entrance to the Port Authority, on 42nd street, is a large rectangular Nets advertisement imbedded into the flooring in blue tile. On one of the most traveled walkways in New York, the blue floor touts Nets tickets with the slogan “Keep the energy going.”
The Knicks will have to bring their season’s highest energy level to prevent a rout. The matchup nightmare starts with Kidd at point guard, leading fastbreaks, throwing all sorts of alley-oop passes that always get finished emphatically against the Knicks by high-flyers Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson.
The Knicks can’t compete in the highlight department – their players aren’t as athletically blessed – but they can play like lions on defense.
The Nets swept the four-game series last season. In the regular-season finale last April, the Nets JV – all their reserves were in – rallied from a double-digit deficit on the Garden floor to win.
That was embarrassing enough. Tomorrow could be worse if the Knicks don’t bring fight and force, install the Pat Riley/Jeff Van Gundy no-dunk rule, get back on defense, play the kind of intelligent, team “D” that the Garden relishes, that would stir Holzman’s spirit. The Knicks don’t have a lot of big games left on their schedule. This is one of them, maybe the biggest.
