Knicks vs. Nets: After Second Straight Win Over Nets and a Better Record, Are the Knicks Winning the Battle for New York?

Heading into the regular season, the hype over the Battle for the Big Apple in NBA hoops was all the buzz in the five boroughs of New York.

Who would be the real team to represent New York--the longtime icon New York Knicks or the incoming, flashy Brooklyn Nets?

And it was an impressive notion of a crosstown rivalry. Two teams headed by two dynamic scorers. Carmelo Anthony's Knicks vs. Deron Williams' Nets. (And this was without Dwight Howard landing in Brooklyn, something the franchise desperately pushed for.)

Yet, while the Nets pulled out a thrilling 96-89 overtime win against the Knicks in their first meeting on Nov. 26, the 'Bockers have been pulling away in both the season series and in the standings.

Wednesday's third game in the four-game season series between the Knicks and Nets went New York's way, the Knicks posting up a convincing 100-86 win behind the returning Anthony, coming off an ankle sprain he suffered in New York's victory over the Lakers last week to score 31 points for the Knicks.

This comes on top of the Knicks pulling out a 100-97 nail-biter against the Nets on Dec. 11, a game where the Knicks needed Jason Kidd's ice-water-veined three-pointer in the closing seconds of the game to give them the win.

 And that's not all of the places where the Knicks have been winning in this battle for basketball bragging rights in the Big Apple. With the Wednesday night win, the Knicks (19-6) have won eight of their last 10 games, and have been dominant at home with an 11-1 record while sitting pretty with a six-game lead in the Atlantic Division and the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Anthony, in the midst of his finest season yet, is second in the league in scoring at 28.0 points per game while evolving his game to include defense, rebounding and passing. Raymond Felton, who was out of shape and underachieving last season in Portland, is enjoying his renaissance in New York, scoring 17.8 points and 6.4 assists in the last 10 games and making a strong case for NBA All-Star consideration.

Meanwhile, the Nets have not been as fortunate. After starting out on a red-hot 11-4 start on the season, Brooklyn has lost eight of its last 10 games, only a game above .500 after losing to the Knicks on Wednesday.

Williams, the team's leader and best player, has already been vocal about the Nets needing to make adjustments on offense.

"We are frustrated," Williams told The New York Times. "We have to change some things. We have to get better. It is on us as players."

Those sentiments may not bode well for Nets coach Avery Johnson, who may be on the hot seat, especially after his team folded in the second half of Wednesday's game against their crosstown rival Knicks. And one game before that, the Nets only scored 33 points and let a 13-point lead against the Utah Jazz evaporate in Brooklyn's 92-90 loss to the Jazz on Tuesday.

Still, Johnson is not panicking, insisting that his team's struggles will ease once they get more comfortable with one another.

"I think one of the things that's most important is definitely keeping your quarterback happy and comfortable," Johnson told ESPN recently of Williams' comments. "But we've got other pieces of the pie. We've got Brook Lopez, who's, you know, pretty good. And they seem to be quite comfortable, so now we've gotta get everybody comfortable. And once we do that we, I think we'll make our mark. We were pretty good at one time when we were 10-4, 11-4 and we were scoring the ball pretty good and we were playing pretty good defense. It's just the cycles of the season. You'll see us run a little bit more stuff tonight that Deron can really thrive in, and if the shots go down, then everybody's gonna feel good."

The Nets and Knicks only meet one more time this season, an afternoon game at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 21.

Of course, there are some who would downplay that there is a rivalry between the two teams just one bridge toll away from one another.

"Not much," said Tyson Chandler, who alley-ooped his way to 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting. "It's no different playing them, the Celtics, Philly, anybody else."

However, not everyone sees it that way. Born in New York City, Anthony knows the value of these games against Brooklyn, not just in the standings, but for the city itself.

"At the end of the day, these are statement games, these are big games, divisional games," Anthony told reporters after the game. "They're right across the bridge, so these games definitely mean a lot."