As the two New York area teams, the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets should hypothetically be rivals, but given their records in recent years, you'd think they'd keep the trash talking to a minimum.
For some reason, it seems to a be a focus for both front offices. According to ESPN, the Knicks recently released a radio spot proclaiming, "Hey Nets. You can walk like us, you can talk like us, but you ain't never gonna be like us" — pretty strong words for a team that hasn't made the playoffs since 2004, when they were swept by the Nets.
New Jersey's Russian oligarch owner Mikhail Prokhorov responded to the radio bit in a statement of his own.
"I don't think we want to be like the Knicks. I think we'd more like to resemble the Lakers," he said.
Nets point guard Devin Harris downplayed the feud, but said he was glad that Prokhorov had the team's back.
"We ran some ads, they ran some ads, it's just an ad-fest. … It gives us confidence. [You] know that he's going to back us no matter what," he said. "He's proud of his product and we want to give him something to be proud of."
The publicity feud took root prior to the free-agency period, when the Nets posted a massive billboard near Madison Square Garden with the images of Prokhorov and Jay-Z and the caption "The Blueprint for Greatness."
After signing Amare Stoudamire, New York responded by placing a similar billboard with Amare's image near the site of the Nets' new stadium in Brooklyn.
The Knicks and Nets square off on the court at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
