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Nets, Knicks to split 2015 NBA All-Star Game hosting duties

September 25, 2013 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Rivals to the bitter end, the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks will actually partner up to co-host the 2015 NBA All-Star Game festivities.

The NBA was set to announce Wednesday afternoon that the two franchises, battling on the hardwood and in the media for hardwood supremacy across the five boroughs, would play nice long enough to conduct a rare split-venue hosting of the annual All-Star event.

The weekend’s marquee attraction, the 2015 NBA All-Star Game, will be held at the newly renovated Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2005.

However, the Saturday night festivities, which include the slam-dunk contest and the 3-point shootout, will be held at the Barclays Center.

“The only thing better than having the All-Star game at MSG or Barclays Center is having it at both of them,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “This is another slam dunk for New York City.”

While team owners Mikhail Prokhorov and James Dolan have had a well-chronicled “feud” and players like the Knicks’ J.R. Smith and newly acquired Nets forward Paul Pierce haven’t been shy about exchaning verbal barbs to fuel an already heated rivalry, the two sides, with the help of NBA commissioner David Stern, have found a way to see eye-to-eye on co-hosting the event.

“To our friends in Brooklyn, we’re looking forward to giving our rivalry a little rest that weekend,” Dolan said.

“We’re truly ushering in the golden era of basketball into New York City today,” said Nets representative Irina Pavlova. “We’re looking forward to putting our differences aside, as Mr. Dolan said, for a little bit.”

This will be just the second time an All-Star weekend has been split between two facilities. In 2010, the Dallas Mavericks’ American Airlines Center hosted All-Star Saturday before the All-Star Game itself was played on Sunday at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

This will be New York’s first All-Star Game since 1998, also at the Garden.

The agreement was likely made with the promise that the next New York All-Star Game would be held in a similar manner, but with the Nets hosting the All-Star Game and the Garden putting on the All-Star Saturday events.

For more on this developing story, read the Brooklyn Eagle‘s weekend edition with full coverage of the press conference.

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