AP By now you’ve seen the pictures of the flooding and devastation from hurricane Sandy’s assault on the northeast. Well, unless you’re one of the more than 7 million without power in the region, then you unfortunately are living it (and likely not reading this).
Damage from Sandy has become a real threat to the Knicks at the Nets game Thursday, which was set to be the regular season debut of the Nets new home — the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, where the franchise moved after 35 years in New Jersey.
Earlier in the day, the NBA said it was still “assessing” the situation for games later in the week but that all the Tuesday night games would go on as scheduled.
The good news is the new center itself went undamaged from Sandy, reports Stephen Bondy of the New York Daily News. So long as it has power, the building could host the game Thursday night.
The question is could anybody get there?
As you may have read, storm surge flooded the already closed New York subway system, with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg saying Tuesday morning it could be “four or five days” before the system is back up and running.
Why does that impact the Nets and the Barclays Center? Howard Beck explains at the New York Times.
Barclays Center is served by 11 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road, none of which are running at the moment. City officials have said it will be three or four days before subway service returns. The lack of mass transit could be crippling for the arena, which sits on Brooklyn’s busiest intersection, at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. Parking in the area is severely limited. Barclays Center officials have promoted mass transit as the preferred option for visiting the arena, which opened Sept. 28.
The Nets also have home games scheduled for Saturday (against Toronto) and Monday (against Minnesota). The Knicks’ home opener is scheduled for Friday night against the Miami Heat.
There is no way the Nets want to postpone this game, both because it’s the home and building opener, and because they get a banged up Knicks team without Amare Stoudemire. There is no way the league wants to postpone an opening week, nationally televised game.
The question is, will they have a choice?
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Durant donates $1 million to Oklahoma City tornado disaster relief efforts
May 21, 2013, 2:31 PM EDT
Reuters
We don’t need more people like Kevin Durant in basketball, we need more people like Kevin Durant on the planet. Kevin Durant has donated $1 million to Red Cross disaster relief efforts in the wake of a devastating tornado that ripped through the suburbs of Oklahoma City, leaving 24 dead and devastating the community. The…
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Odds for the NBA Draft Lottery (that teams don’t care if they win)
May 21, 2013, 2:03 PM EDT
AP
The NBA lottery is totally fixed, but in the interest of appeasing the NBA, we’re going to share the odds the league says each team has of receiving each pick. We will add that it’s been a long time since there was this little buzz around the NBA about the lottery — because nobody really…
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May 21, 2013, 1:15 PM EDT
AP
A good coach always has his players’ backs in public. Even if he hasn’t coached them in a decade. Enter legendary Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who like a lot of people in the great state of New York was watching Carmelo Antony lead the Knicks to eventual second round playoff elimination this year. You’ll remember…
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Getty Images
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Report: Clippers (read: Chris Paul) have eyes on free agent David West
May 21, 2013, 11:43 AM EDT
AP
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Reuters
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The NBA lottery is fixed. There’s no question about it. Just as last year’s draft order was determined by a David Stern-led conspiracy, this year’s will be determined the same way. Think about it. If the NBA lottery really were legitimate, why not conduct the draw publically rather than in a back room? If the…
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Report: Michael Jordan will unveil plan today to change Bobcats into Hornets
May 21, 2013, 9:55 AM EDT
The Charlotte Hornets became the New Orleans Hornets, which became the New Orleans Pelicans, allowing the Charlotte Bobcats to become the Charlotte Hornets. Got it? A few days after news leaked, the plan will become official today. Steve Reed of the Associated Press: Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan is changing his team’s name to the…
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Reuters
You can cross Stan Van Gundy off your coaching lists. The former Magic and Heat coach was on The David Baumann Show on 1080 The Team in Orlando and said he would not be coaching anywhere next season. He called it a family decision. He added that a few teams reached out to him but…
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Knicks Prigioni could return to Spain rather than another season in NY
May 21, 2013, 9:03 AM EDT
AP
Knicks GM Glen Grunwald wanted to sign Pablo Prigioni to a two-year deal, but the 35-year-old point guard and NBA rookie was only taking a one-year offer. That was practical — he signed for the veteran’s minimum and if he showed he belonged he could get a better deal. But it also may mean he…
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Spurs/Grizzlies preview: Game 2 will be closer, but will that be enough for Memphis?
May 21, 2013, 8:00 AM EDT
Getty Images
Game 2 is not going to look like Game 1. Memphis is not going to get its doors blown off from the opening tip as happened in their Game 1 loss. You can expect better pick and roll defense out of Memphis. You can also expect better ball movement and more Zach Randolph. You can…
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Report: Dwight Howard told Lakers GM he was frustrated with D’Antoni
May 21, 2013, 2:02 AM EDT
AP
From the start, there was one thing most likely to keep Mike D’Antoni from returning as Lakers coach — free agent Dwight Howard. It may not have been that direct — and it may not change who is the Lakers coach next season — but apparently Howard let Lakers management know exactly how he feels…
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We need a game in this series so we can talk about basketball and not this ridiculous game of telephone. As we explained before, LeBron James took umbrage at something a reporter told him Pacers’ coach Frank Vogel said — except Vogel never said it. What Vogel said was, “They’re the next team that’s in…
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Getty Images
If you’re like me, you have been transfixed by the tragic events that have unfolded around Oklahoma City on Monday, where a monster tornado has left death and devastation in its wake. The pictures out of schools in that city are heart wrenching. The thoughts of all of us here at PBT are with the…
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Getty Images
Just three seasons ago, the Golden State Warriors were a 26-win team with Monta Ellis and Corey Maggette as their two leading scorers — this was a team in need of a radical overhaul. Enter new ownership willing to invest in winning, new players to go with then rookie Stephen Curry, a new coach in…
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Brothers allege entourage of Damian Lillard beat them for taking his picture
May 20, 2013, 6:55 PM EDT
AP
Let’s start out here by saying take this all with a grain of salt. People’s descriptions of fights after a bar closes often do not match reality. But a pair of brothers in Oregon told television station KGW that they snapped a picture of Blazers point guard Damian Lillard walking to his car outside a…
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Getty Images
Would the Nets wait to hire a coach until Memphis is eliminated from the playoffs just so they can make a run at Lionel Hollins, whose contract expires after the season? If Scott Skiles is a top alternative, patience could make sense. What’s there to lose? Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times: Some NBA officials…
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The Nets were surely dejected when Phil Jackson turned them down, so it seems they want at least one coaching candidate who’s extremely unlikely to reject them. Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times (hat tip: Matt Moore of Eye on Basketball): the Nets also have put Scott Skiles on their short list. Skiles was fired…
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Report: Nets plan to use cap exception to sign Bojan Bogdanovic
May 20, 2013, 5:23 PM EDT
Getty Images
The Nets are pretty hamstrung with their roster this summer. Billy King did put together an interesting team to open the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, a team led by Deron Williams and Brook Lopez that was the fourth seed in the East. But he capped out the team to do it — they have $86…
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Getty Images
In the last three years and five of the last six, the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft has been a player who declared after only one year of college basketball (Blake Griffin being the exception). At one point, Shabazz Muhammad was rated as the the No. 1 incoming freshman, so it’s reasonable he…
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