Why do Knicks fans keep TAKING OVER Brooklyn's Barclays Center?

New York Post

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00:00The Knicks, big bro, the Nets, 113 to 100 Monday night at the Barclays.

00:05Check this out, y'all.

00:06The Nets have not won a game in this series since January 28th of 2023.

00:11So let's talk Brooklyn basketball with the man on the Nets beat.

00:15That's Brian Lewis, who joins us now.

00:17Brian, thanks for hopping on with us.

00:19You've been covering this team, this series, for a long time now.

00:23That's 12 straight for the Knicks.

00:25That's now the longest slump in the history of this series.

00:29But this game was tied at one point in the second quarter, and then Cat and the Knicks took over.

00:34So what were your biggest takeaways from last night's loss?

00:39Well, I mean, it didn't – listen, I wasn't shocked that they lost.

00:45It was a much better performance.

00:48I don't know if you witnessed their last game, their prior game against the Knicks in the Garden,

00:54where it was humiliating.

00:58And Jordy Fernandez was quite vocal with his team about how displeased he was with their effort.

01:06But, frankly, Cat is a problem for them, size-wise.

01:10The Nets have adjusted their lineup, you know, after about game seven,

01:16or they're about to get more size into the lineup, but Cat is still an issue for them.

01:22And Bronson is a problem because they don't have great point-of-attack defenders.

01:28That's something that they're going to have to develop as this rebuild goes on.

01:34At some point, they feel Drake Powell can be that, but he's a rookie.

01:39And they have other guys on the roster that just probably never will be great point-of-attack defenders.

01:47So that's not a great matchup for them.

01:50And then they let the pace get more to what the Knicks wanted.

01:56The Nets are going to have to be up and down the court and playing at a more frenetic pace.

02:01When you allow the Knicks to drag this into a half-court contest

02:05and play bully ball in your building,

02:08and I'm sure we'll get into the your building part later in this segment,

02:12and beat them up, that's not going to go well for them.

02:15So you've already braced me to get ready to watch the Nets, not win that many games.

02:23And I've kind of watched the game.

02:26I don't watch it in the win-loss format.

02:28I'm watching to see if they get better.

02:30They're winless at home.

02:32Knicks fans took over the Barclays,

02:33and it basically felt like a road game for the Nets.

02:36You can hear it on the TV.

02:38I want you to listen to what Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe had to say about the state of the Nets,

02:43and then give us your reaction.

02:45Here's what they said.

02:47What are the Nets-Nets ratio of people like,

02:51what's up with my blank when you're in New York?

02:54Probably like 99% Nets.

02:56It's 50 to 1 Nets versus Nets.

03:00Meeting a Nets fan, even in New York,

03:02is only slightly more common than meeting a Magic fan in New York.

03:06It's that bad.

03:08Nets fans hate when you say this and talk about how dead the Barclays Center is

03:12and how L was kind of dead even when they were good.

03:14It's like, look, I don't know what to tell you.

03:16I'm sorry.

03:17I've been to a lot of arenas.

03:18This is not resonating.

03:21Here's the problem.

03:22It's not dead for the Liberty Games.

03:24Liberty Games are awesome.

03:25Liberty Games are alive.

03:26Yeah.

03:26So it's the Nets' fault, and it's the Nets' fault probably for thinking

03:30they could come into New York and try to steal New York from the Knicks

03:33because everybody loves the Knicks here.

03:35Two things, Brian.

03:37One, Liberty Games are awesome.

03:39Two, where's the pride?

03:42Give us your response to that.

03:47I mean, listen, I'm not the Nets' chamber of commerce.

03:52It's hard for me to try to rebut this stuff, but I'll give it my shot.

03:58Listen, I mean, Simmons taking a shot at the Nets' water is wet.

04:02That's part of his MO.

04:05No, I'm not exactly – I'm not in his head, so I'm not exactly sure why he –

04:12like, I understand some guys trolling specific teams.

04:17I don't know why he's picked the Nets to constantly go back to the well.

04:24But what I would say is the Nets' atmosphere historically,

04:32since they've moved to Barclays, has not been great.

04:35And sometimes their own players have talked about that,

04:41where when Steph Curry comes into the building,

04:44or when Simmons' beloved Celtics come into the building,

04:48or whether it's the Knicks or whether whoever,

04:53occasionally opposing fans do take over that building,

04:56and it happens more than it should.

04:58But I would say there is not a single soul that has a concept of what's going on in the NBA

05:06that doesn't have an agenda, and clearly Simmons does,

05:11that wouldn't say it's been a good business move.

05:14It's been a great business move for them.

05:16I mean, if you watched the Nets in New Jersey,

05:20and you watched how they had difficulty drawing fans, period,

05:25and then you compare it here,

05:29where their attendance has steadily gone up and up and up and up,

05:33it's pretty obvious that it was a great business move for them.

05:37Now the next step, after drawing fans,

05:41is finding a way to improve the game night vibe in the building.

05:48Now that's always going to be an issue for them,

05:50or at least in the foreseeable future,

05:52because a lot of their fans are not season take holders.

05:55A lot of those fans are walk-ups.

05:58All right?

05:58So that does leave you vulnerable to walk-up Warriors fans,

06:04or walk-up Lakers fans, or whatever,

06:07buying tickets up for a specific game night.

06:10But, as I said, you know,

06:13when they were in the Meadowlands,

06:15it was a mausoleum.

06:17Not a coliseum, a mausoleum.

06:20They weren't drawing anybody.

06:21So now they're drawing people.

06:24The on-the-court product was better in the Meadowlands.

06:28I remember, you know, being in college, playing NBA Live,

06:32you had Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson on the same squad.

06:36These guys were contenders.

06:39Now, they're an afterthought, you know.

06:42So when do you feel as though this will change for the fan base?

06:49Well, not all those years in the Meadowlands were good.

06:54They had some terrible years in the Meadowlands.

06:58Horrible.

06:59Right?

07:00Like, 12 wins.

07:00So, I mean, they've had some bad years there.

07:03The problem was, as I say, as an example,

07:06even when you had the big three in Brooklyn,

07:09the vibe wasn't necessarily great.

07:12I remember, I mean, Kevin Durant talking about this

07:15while he was here.

07:17He wasn't wrong.

07:18What I would say is this.

07:23Clearly, and if you, I understand that Twitter is not real life.

07:27I get that.

07:28But, I mean, if, example, if you go on Nets Twitter,

07:32you will see how invested these fans are in this young rookie class.

07:36Some of those guys the fans are going to get to watch grow up in front of them.

07:45That's going to have an impact on this.

07:47And, as I said, if you pay attention to the attendance trends that is going up,

07:53even as this team, whatever you want to call it,

07:56struggles, rebuilds, tank, whatever word you want to use.

08:00So, I do think these are things that organizationally, right,

08:08the Nets are hoping will improve the vibe in their building.

08:13They've improved the attendance.

08:14And, as I said, that's not something that I or Bill Simmons

08:19or anybody else can argue.

08:20Their attendance is much better, not a little better,

08:24a lot better since they've moved to Brooklyn.

08:26Now, it's, as we talk about, improving the game night vibe

08:31and atmosphere in the building.

08:34Good business, but bad basketball.

08:37I think that's what it is.

08:39Basketball is bad.

08:39There we go right there.

08:41Brian Lewis, man, if I don't see you, happy Thanksgiving.

08:44I appreciate you hopping on with this.

08:46Oh, anytime.

08:47Happy Thanksgiving, man.

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