New York Knicks Hated by Paul Pierce: 'The Hate Has Grown a Little' Nets Player Reveals [VIDEO]
Paul Pierce fanned the flames in the Knicks-Nets rivalry when he admitted on Thursday that his disdain for the Knicks has intensified since he signed with Brooklyn.
"I think the hate has grown a little," Pierce said of the Knicks on ESPN Radio's The Michael Kay Show.. "Everybody knows how much I disliked the Knicks when I was with the Celtics, but I think it's grown to another level.
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Boston and New York's rivalry was reawakened in 2010 when Amar'e Stoudemire signed with the Knicks and lifted the team into contention in the Atlantic Division. New York has routinely battled Boston for supremacy since then. And when Pierce and Kevin Garnett left New England for Brooklyn, they added their combative history with the Knicks to the current Nets-Knicks battle.
In 2010, Pierce famously agitated Knicks fans after he made a game-winning shot at Madison Square Garden, and then proceeded to taunt the crowd by bowing at midcourt. His Celtics counterpart Garnett had his own run-in with the Knicks last season, when in January he engaged in a heated argument with New York's Carmelo Anthony during a game. Garnett allegedly made a comment about Anthony's wife, which enraged the Knicks forward so much that Anthony even pursued Garnett after the game.
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The fact that the Knicks eliminated Garnett and Pierce's Celtics in six games during the 2013 NBA playoffs will be further incentive for the duo to get revenge with their new team.
The new-look Nets with Garnett and Pierce in tow will face off against the Knicks in the first of four meetings on Jan. 20, 2014.
