New York will rock tonight with Nets-Spurs and Knicks-Clippers showdown

New York is the most populous city in USA and Brooklyn is the most populous among the five boroughs of New York City. Tonight New York will play host to four of the best teams in the NBA in the Spurs and the Clippers as the Nets face the Spurs and the Knicks take on the Clippers.

People in New York have something of a quandary. On one hand they have the New York Knicks which plays in the Mecca of basketball, Madison Square Garden. On the other hand there’s the shiny new franchise in Brooklyn headed by Jay Z and that Mikhail Prokhorov. The rivalry is not as intense as the Lakers and Clippers one, as that’s older. But this one is new and has the potential to be a lot more dynamic than the Clipper-Laker dynamic. For one thing, the Lakers and Clippers play in the same stadium so the fans of the teams often overlap, even though they won’t admit it. And the Clippers haven’t always been this good. The Nets and Knicks on the other hand have got off with both teams being hot. The city of New York also has a mayor who takes matters in his own hands when an opponent comes to town.

“He didn’t fall on her. He came close and I just pushed him a little bit.”- said Mayor Michael Bloomberg of Jackson hurting his ankle after tripping on a waitress who was waiting on the Mayor.

It would have been much more fun if the Spurs were playing the Knicks for that reason alone. Besides that, the Clippers are in a bit of a funk right now as they have gone 3-7 in their last 10 games. The Knicks are on a roll with a 32-16 record and will in all probability make mincemeat of the Clippers and their 35-17 record if Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups have another game like they did versus the Heat in which those three scored a combined 23 points and they lost 111-89. Of the two matchups which will be played in New York tonight, this one is probably going to be the more entertaining match. The Knicks came out this season completely red hot and are led by MVP contender Carmelo Anthony. The Clippers have a MVP contender of their own in Chris Paul and his recent absence because of injury and the subsequent woes of the Clippers have only served to highlight the importance of the all star point guard to this team.

Across the city, the Spurs will visit the Nets. The San Antonio Spurs are the most transparent enigma in the league. Being written off every year as too old or too slow, they keep winning on a consistent basis. They currently stand at 39-12 in spite of missing Ginobili and Duncan for many games. All they do is provide equal opportunity to their roster and maintain and polish their exhaustive playbook while growing players through the draft and free agency without blowing big bucks on some flashy name. And its worked well for them. They will take on the Brooklyn Nets who stand at 29-21 and have youth on their side as they face down the Spurs and the more larger and daunting prospect of outshining the New York Knicks.

They call Madison Square Garden the Mecca of basketball. Tonight, New York will be ablaze with the presence of multiple all stars and a few MVP caliber players. For one night both Nets and Knicks will be looking to uphold the name of New York and lay claim to it as theirs. The people of New York will be spoilt for choice at which game to attend. Some may probably watch the Clippers-Knicks match and then use the five and a half hour gap to travel to Brooklyn to watch the Nets-Spurs match. Regardless of which teams win tonight, it’s the basketball fans in New York who win.