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Howard Beck probably said it best, or we should say tweeted it best. Wednesday when he described the scene at the NBA press conference announcing the 2015 All-Star Game will be coming to New York.
A study in contrasts: lots of smiles on left side of stage (Nets officials), stoic looks on right side (Knicks officials).
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) September 25, 2013
With the story long out there --the Nets and Knicks will share the 2015 All-Star Game-- there was a lot of atmospherics and some news, mainly about how the two owners present a different image.
The two sides agreed to put aside for at least a few hours their rivalry, but James Dolan did confirm that he and Mikhail Prokhorov met for lunch last season. When asked what he got out of the meeting, Dolan quipped "free lunch." Irina Pavlova, who along with Bruce Ratner, represented the Nets, also confirmed the meeting saying that Mikhail Prokhorov, not NBA Commissioner David Stern, had set up the meeting, which was set up to smooth over differences between the two billionaires.
The day was historic in another aspect. It was the first time since 2007 that Dolan took questions from reporters. He had some issues.
At one point Dolan went on rant, "setting the record straight" about Garden's relations with worker's union and Stern had to snatch mic away
— Stefan Bondy (@NYDNInterNets) September 25, 2013
The only other news was that Adam Silver seemed to suggest that Jason Kidd will likely face a suspension for his DUI plea. Jason Kidd's possible suspension but said they had a standard (two games) for DUIs.
— Stefan Bondy (@NYDNInterNets) September 25, 2013
Bruce Ratner also admitted something everyone knew, that this team is Prokhorov's.
Bruce Ratner speaking about Mikhail Prokhorov, who isn't in attendance: "You built a team that I never could have built."
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) September 25, 2013
The bottom line though belonged to Pavlova, who spoke with Alyonka Larionov at the end of the press conference.
Irina Pavlova: "This validates everything we've worked for these last 3 years." @barclayscenter #NBAallstar 2015 pic.twitter.com/3MbC4HRSG1
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) September 25, 2013
...And confessed she's a big fan of the crosstown put-downs...
Irina Pavlova is a fan of the Knicks-Nets trash-talking: "If we were sitting around doing Kumbaya, it wouldn’t be much fun for anyone."
— Stefan Bondy (@NYDNInterNets) September 25, 2013