There are many story lines on the fight card from the Barclay's Arena in Brooklyn yesterday including a basketball game between the Knicks and the Nets. While both teams are unlikely to make it into the postseason, there is still plenty of action and drama for both teams even if most of it does not show in the box score.
The Nets won the game 120-112 last night. Carmelo came back home to Brooklyn again and scored well but could not close the gap. Jeremy Lin came home to New York City where Linsanity was all the rage just a millisecond ago in media time. The two NY franchises share the market called the mecca of basketball where point guards are born and fans seem to be the most knowledgeable and passionate in the entire sport. Neither team can currently claim to be the reincarnation of the 1969 Knicks on the court with wondrous movement and team play, but the Nets seem to be on the way toward the intangible goal of becoming a team as its starters and bench contribute to the win evenly in a full 48 minutes. Jeremy Lin heated up in the final 5 minutes to close out the win.
The other main events on the card are the ongoing competition between two business titans: James Dolan a cable billionaire and Mikhail Prokhorov, an oil tycoon-one from NY City itself and one from Russia. This has all of the electricity of a real heavyweight fight as the Knicks were recently appraised as the most valuable franchise in the NBA but are mired in off-court issues ranging from a former Knick icon, Charles Oakley who is estranged from the Knicks to public debates and confusion at the many levels of executive management and policy involving Knick President Phil Jackson, his belief in the "triangle" offense and questions about his roster decisions. While the Nets do not have new issues in the ranks, they still suffer from roster decisions and trades of the past that will result in them rooting that their draft pick in the coming draft is not the #1 pick since they do not own it.
Looking past the inner workings of the franchises, it is fascinating to watch one more story from the business perspective the battle for "share of heart and mind" that these two franchises wage for the bragging rights as the favorite team in this vast market. This game-within-a-game has all of the drama and maneuvering of a corporate take-over and, the Nets move last year signing Jeremy Lin to a three-year deal was more than a basketball move for a clever point guard. The move seized a huge market advantage as it reignited the attention of one million disenfranchised Asia fans who moaned the failure of the Knicks to sign their favorite son after the magic of Linsanity. Now this huge market share follows the very move of the Nets.
The value of a franchise is more than dollars and cents. It entails TV ratings, merchandise sales, sponsorships and all of the peripherals. This one-on-one has all of the makings of a classic competition in the tradition of Ali-Frazier, as Dolan vs. Prokhorov will jab and parry back and forth for the next five years behind the scenes and in the media.
For now, it is advantage Prokhorov.
