Quick - who are Treveon Graham, Rodions Kurucs and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson?
Those are three members of the Brooklyn Nets, all of whom scored points yesterday during the Nets' 123-94 drubbing of the Sacramento Kings at Barclays Center.
Maybe the Nets aren't one of the NBA's aristocracy, but they are clearly the best team in the Big Apple. Yet all the natives care about are the Knicks, the local tumor of a basketball team, with a 10-35 record and 23.5 games out of the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
We only talk about Kristaps Porzingis - who has no desire to play for the Knicks - and how many games the team has to tank in order to get the pole position in the NBA Draft and bag Zion Williamson. The only person who plugs Brooklyn is WFAN's resident Nets scholar, Evan Roberts.
The only Net you surely know is D'Angelo Russell, the Lakers outcast who was shipped to Brooklyn to become the next Sebastian Telfair. Yet Russell is revived, averaging more minutes, points and assists than at any point in his career, while shooting 43.8 percent from the field, also a career best.
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As if being an NBA punchline for nearly 20 years weren't enough. As if the turnstile at the coach's office weren't enough. As if Larry Brown, Carmelo Anthony, Isaiah Thomas and Anucha Browne Sanders weren't enough. The Knicks still own the bold ink in the Big Apple. They last won a home game at the "Mecca" of basketball on Dec. 1.
You'd best believe that if the Knicks were 25-23, there would be a cloud of euphoria consuming New Yorkers and a newly-built drawbridge to enter Madison Square Garden. You'd be hearing new songs, chants and mantras, with even more nauseating, trendy folks splashed along the front row because it's the place to be seen, heads down, brooding over their smartphones.
Yet it's the Nets ranked No. 14 out of the entire NBA according to the power rankings last week from NBA.com (the Knicks are 28th). Imagine the Nets finishing ten-games over .500 and winning a round in the NBA Playoffs. The Knicks would get a parade. The Nets get the bowels of the sports section, buried between horse racing and high school wrestling.
You could understand some of it when they played in the Meadowlands. They are not only in Brooklyn, but they are also on the very land Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley picked to replace Ebbets Field (Robert Moses - who had more power than the mayor or governor - hated O'Malley, so we got the Mets.)
We can also thank Kenny Atkinson for Brooklyn's spike in the standings. While the Knicks play Whack-a-Mole with their head coaches, the Nets are led by the little-known former assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks. After toiling in Atlanta for four years, he got his shot in Brooklyn, and it's working. We love to mimic the Knicks coach, compare one coach's voice to Tone Loc, or jab at the finger-thick glasses of the next coach. The one place we don't hold the Knicks' coach accountable? Wins.
Yesterday the Nets had five players score at least ten points, and ten players score at least five points. They outscored the Kings, 30-9, in the fourth quarter. And Sacramento is not the normal subterranean team from the Pacific Division. They are above .500 in the ornery Western Conference.
The Nets aren't a threat to win the NBA Finals or crack the top-three of the emaciated, LeBron-free Eastern Conference. But they are by far the best team in New York City, even if you haven't heard of them.
Twitter: @JasonKeidel
