The Nets went out in four....

4/27

Brooklyn Nets (Basquiat version)

 I had hoped the Nets run would last longer but they lost last night and went out in four to the Celtics. I’d wanted to rep the Nets mid-playoff but the predicted preseason favorite juggernaut evaporated along the way. COVID, injuries, Kyrie Irving’s no-vax exile and my favorite James Harden jumping ship all played a role.

I shared with my friends the intriguing Nets history, itself a sort of socio-cultural parable.  They started as an original American Basketball Association start-up playing as the New Jersey Americans in the Teaneck Armory which would later become a Mecca for indoor soccer and many nights with my boys’ travel team. 

From there they travelled to Uniondale, Long Island for the brief honeymoon of Nassau County for sports with the expansion New York Islanders, indoor soccer New York Arrows and newly renamed New York Nets on the scene. Named to go along with the Mets who played at Shea, the  She and Hempstead based football Jets, World Team Tennis in Queens  Sets and the whimsical appropriation Off Track Betting New York Bets. Only the Islanders, recently returned from Brooklyn, remain an Island team.

In Uniondale, the Nets would reach the pinnacle with the one and only Julius Irving, Dr.J. More than anyone, Dr.J made the ABA with red, white and blue ball, soul swagger and three point baskets a threat to the NBA forcing a merger.  The NBA would get the Nets, Dr.J and the 3 pointer.  But the Knicks demanded compensation for the Nets invasion of their territory and the Nets had to part with the Dr. to pay their way in. The Knicks, in a classic dumb move, turned down the offer of the Dr. who ultimately would wind up in Philadelphia. 

Dr.J era Nets hat

The Nets would wind up back inNew Jersey at the next envisioned suburban sports  Mecca, a reclaimed Jersey swampland called the Meadow Lands. The Brendan Byrne Arena would draw the expansion NHL hockey Devils and NBA Nets.  A newly built Giants Stadium would draw the NFL New York Football Giants and eventually the Jets as well. A harness race track completed the scene along with  a never realized Xanadu entertainment complex.

The Nets drew NBA fans from the city who couldn’t afford the scarce Knicks tickets. The team rose to its peak with two consecutive NBA finals runs with  Jason Kidd led teams but no title. The Byrne Arena would lose its appeal and the Devils decamped for the new Prudential Center in downtown Newark where the Nets visited for one year on the way to Brooklyn.  Newark could have been a fine urban  place for the Nets. But despite Mayor Cory Booker;s efforts, there was no tuning back.

So the Nets came to the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Traded in their red, white and blue (originally the Americans, right?) for Brooklyn hipster  black and white. Russian oligarch money tried the “super team” approach, but it hasn’t worked yet. Maybe next year the stalwart  Kevin Durant and quicksilver Kyrie Irving can finally work the magic. 

Ironically, the Nets now play precisely where Walter O’Malley wanted the Dodgers to play before Robert Moses drove him all the way to LA. The old Ebbetts Field flag pole now graces the plaza in front of the Barclays. And who but  the Nets could have Basquiat inspired uniforms?  So hats off …and on…for the Brooklyn Nets.