Coaches don't consider Nets vs. Knicks a rivalry

While the Knicks and Nets marketing folks have been happily exchanging barbs across the river in recent months, both coaches said before their first meeting of the season Tuesday night this doesn't qualify as a true rivalry yet. "You don't really get a rivalry unless you're in the playoffs," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "It doesn't work in the regular season when you're saying, 'Oh boy, we knocked them out of ninth place.' That just doesn't work."

Nets coach Avery Johnson said the teams need to meet in the playoffs, with one of them experiencing "the agony of defeat" before he'll call it a rivalry.

"Until that happens," Johnson said, "we're still two teams trying to climb."

And on that note Johnson said he considers the Knicks "further along" in their rebuilding process because of the presence of Amar'e Stoudemire, whom he called "a nice luxury to have."

But even without a definitive rivalry on the court, following the war of words in recent ads has been entertaining, especially in advance of the Nets' pending move to Brooklyn in two years.

The latest warning shot came in the form of an ad on the MSG Network advancing last night's game. "Hey Nets," the ad said, "you can walk like us, you can talk like us, but you ain't never gonna be like us."

Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov responded Tuesday with a statement that included a jab at the Knicks' recent run of disappointing seasons: "I don't think we want to be like the Knicks. I think we'd more like to resemble the Lakers."

Trainer's room

Ronny Turiaf missed his second straight game with a sprained left knee. The center initially hurt his knee Nov. 7 against the 76ers, missed three games and then hurt it again last week at Charlotte. But D'Antoni said he's confident Turiaf's injured knee won't be a lingering issue, saying that he expects Turiaf back Friday night in New Orleans. "We just need to be careful about practicing all the time, stuff like that," D'Antoni said.