Sandy washes out Knicks-Nets match

NEW YORK—Due to the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, the Brooklyn Nets will have to wait almost a month to entertain their uptown NBA rivals, the New York Knicks.

The league announced that the Nets-Knicks game, originally scheduled for Thursday, had been rescheduled for Nov. 26 at the new $1 billion Barclays Center.

It will become the third game in four days for the Nets, all of them at home, with the Los Angeles Clippers visiting on Nov. 23 and Portland following two days later, then the Knicks the next night.

The Knicks will play host to Detroit on Nov. 25 before making the trek from Manhattan the next evening.

Killer storm Sandy knocked out electricity and damaged buildings and trees as well as touched off flooding, including severe damage to the New York subway system, typically a primary method of transportation to the new arena.

The Nets-Knicks showdown was to have been the first home game for a Brooklyn-based sports team since Major League Baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.

The Nets, who moved from New Jersey after last season, are now set to open the new NBA season at home on Saturday against Toronto. Should that game also be rescheduled, Brooklyn’s next chance would be Monday against Minnesota.

New York will now open the season on Friday at home against Miami barring any further issues with hurricane damage.  AFP