NEIGHBORHOOD SCORE
Mullin thrilled to have Nets in Brooklyn
ALBANY — This was back when Chris Mullin had just retired and was living out on Long Island, the year that Jason Kidd and his New Jersey Nets defied every odd imaginable by getting to the 2002 NBA Finals. Mullin’s old “Run-TMC” teammate from his Warrior days, Mitch Richmond, was at the end of his career and at the end of Phil Jackson’s bench, watching Shaquille O’Neal bulldoze his way to a second straight title, with Kobe Bryant riding shotgun.
Mullin and Richmond wanted to get together during the Finals and catch up over dinner, but Mullin drew the line at the Hudson River.
“I told Mitch I was not coming out to Jersey to see him, he could come into the city,” Mullin said. “That Finals didn’t even register on the Richter scale in the city. Because it was out in the Meadowlands. Now if that was in Brooklyn, it would have been something else.”
Ten years later, Mullin says he is very eager to see what the new team in his old borough has in store, not just for the NBA, but also for the team he grew up rooting for on Troy Avenue in the Flatlands as he was making a name for himself as one of the greatest players to come out of New York.
“We knew about the ABA Nets,” Mullin said the other night in the Bell Centre in Montreal, where he represented the NBA for the preseason game between the Knicks and Toronto Raptors. “But back then my neighborhood was Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere. That was our squad. Red Holzman. Hit the open man. You know what I mean?”
Millions of New Yorkers still do. But the Nets have crossed back over the New York state line. So how’s Brooklyn going to root now?
“There’s some die-hard Knick fans still in Brooklyn, but you’ve also got die-hard Brooklyn people who are going to embrace the Nets, no doubt,” Mullin said. “I mean, Brooklyn has, what, seven, eight million people? There’s more than enough people there. It’s a can’t-miss for the Nets.”
Mullin sat courtside in Montreal and watched the Knicks stumble through a loss to the Raptors on the front end of a backto-back. Saturday night, they were here in the state capital, trying to find cohesion while still not being able to put all of their regulars — including Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Carmleo Anthony and Jason Kidd — on the floor against the Boston Celtics, who didn’t have Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett or Brandon Bass. The Celtics defeated the Knicks, 109-98.
At the moment, New York’s new team is ahead of the old team. Avery Johnson has been able to get his greatly improved starting five on the court for the exhibition schedule, while Mike Woodson still is waiting for that day to come.
Woodson’s desire to make the Knicks a formidable defensive team isn’t being helped by the fact that new shooting guard Ronnie Brewer and Marcus Camby, who could be a key frontcourt reserve, continue to miss preseason games. After Monday’s night game in Syracuse, there’s only one more preseason tune-up, Wednesday against the Nets, and then the games start counting.
There are only 11 more days until the Knick-Net rivalry goes to a whole, new level.
“It’s great for Brooklyn,” Mullin said. “It’s great for the rivalry. It’s great for New York City. And it’s going to push the Knicks.”
If it’s in the direction of those championship teams Mullin grew up rooting for, some folks back in the Flatlands just might like it.