The New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets will finish their short two-game preseason schedule when they meet Wednesday night at the revamped Madison Square Garden at 7:30 p.m. The Knicks won the first meeting on Saturday 92-83 at the Prudential Center in Newark.
This presents the final tune up for both teams before they kick off the shortened 2011-12 NBA season. The Knicks open their regular season Christmas day against the Boston Celtics, while the Nets head down to the nation's capital on Monday to face the Washington Wizards.
New York will attempt to finalize the guards that will start next to their star front court of Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler. Landry Fields and Tony Douglas look like the safe bets to get the nod this weekend, but that could change, especially if rookie Iman Shumpert turns in another solid performance. The newest Knick, Baron Davis, will eventually start at the point, but he is currently dealing with a back issue.
The only question mark in New Jersey's starting lineup was cleared up early on Wednesday when the team officially announced it had re-signed power forward Kris Humphries to a one-year deal. He could make an appearance against the Knicks at the World's Most Famous Arena to get his feet wet, but given his familiarity with coach Avery Johnson's system there's no need for him to be rushed into action.
The Nets have dropped five straight to the Knicks in the preseason dating back to 2008.
You can see the game locally on MSG.