Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET the battle for the Big Apple's basketball heart resumes at Madison Square Garden, where the playoff-bound Brooklyn Nets (40-33) will try to batter the New York Knicks (32-43) on their home floor while they scratch and claw for a playoff berth. Watch the game on ESPN or live stream it free by clicking this link. Knicks fans can hear the game on 98.7 ESPN New York, while Nets fans may tune in to 710 WOR.
Brooklyn clinched a playoff berth last night vs. Houston, but they can still take the Atlantic division from the Toronto Raptors with a little luck. Meanwhile the Knicks are just trying their hardest to make it. It's hard to remember when the season looked as bleak for the boys in Brooklyn as it did for the blue and orange.
"Honestly, I couldn't even see it," Joe Johnson said of the playoffs. "I kept saying to myself eventually this is going to turn around, things are going to turn for us. Eventually it did starting the new year. We were a different team, our mindset was different and the way we played was different."
The Nets were in dire straits, and floundering after center Brook Lopez went down with a broken foot. Adjustments to the style of play made by head coach Jason Kidd have turned the season around after the calendar turned to 2014. The maligned rookie coach even snagged Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for March.
New York is 3-2 in their last five games, and despite some truly demoralizing defeats are hanging on by a thread thanks to Carmelo Anthony.
"He's doing a lot of the little things," coach Mike Woodson said. "He's done that all season. He's been there when we needed him and now everybody is starting to chip in. It doesn't matter who plays. They're really taking advantage of the minutes they're getting."
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