National Basketball Association

Will Nets-Knicks become the new Dodgers-Giants?

Published Mar. 4, 2011 3:46 p.m. ET

foxsports

It's still more than a year before basketball's Nets forsake New Jersey for their new home in Brooklyn. But sports fans are already noticing early signs of a crosstown rivalry with the New York Knicks.

They hope for a replay of the glory days, when the Brooklyn Dodgers battled the New York Giants for baseball's National League pennant.

The Nets and the Knicks will be hard-pressed to match the intensity of that rivalry. But there are glimpses of what's to come.

The Knicks won last month's bidding war for Brooklyn-born superstar Carmelo Anthony. First, Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov (mih-KEYEL' PROK'-uh-rov) drove up the price during negotiations.

Some Knicks fans say they may switch their allegiance once the Nets are in Brooklyn.