NBA game of the week: Brooklyn at New York on Monday

Brooklyn Nets teammates Brook Lopez, left, and Tornike Shengelia, right, defend against Knicks forward Amar'e Stoudemire during a 113-83 New York win on Dec. 5. The two teams renew their cross-town rivalry Monday.

By Ben Bolch

Jan. 18, 2014 4:11 PM PT

BROOKLYN AT NEW YORK: Monday, 11:30 a.m. PST. TV: ESPN.

The Nets and Knicks must have tired of seeing themselves on “Late Show” top-10 lists. They’re starting to play better basketball after dreadful starts that provided daily fodder for comedy writers. Brooklyn has won six of its last seven games and actually would make the playoffs if they started Sunday (though that says more about the awful Eastern Conference than the mediocre Nets). New York has won six of its last 10, including victories over Miami and San Antonio, while shrugging off the quirks of Shoelace Bandit J.R. Smith. The Knicks also hold a 30-point triumph over the Nets last month in the teams’ first meeting of the season.

ben.bolch@latimes.com

More to Read

Sports

Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

NBA game of the week: Brooklyn at New York on Monday

More to Read

More From the Los Angeles Times