Jason Terry thinks the Knicks will win a title, just not the one J.R. Smith is guaranteeing.
The new Nets guard threw the latest salvo in Brooklyn’s brewing rivalry with the Knicks when asked in an interview with Dime Magazine about Smith’s title talk.
“Maybe the Rucker Park championship,” Terry said after expressing disbelief over Smith’s prediction, which he had not previously heard. “I don’t know, not the NBA championship. I don’t see how they could guarantee that, at all. I’m not buying it, so … I mean, it’s a bitter rivalry, you know it’s going to be intense, and however they feel over there in that locker room they are guaranteed and entitled to feel that way, but we don’t want to see that happen on our watch.”
Terry was part of the Nets-Celtics offseason blockbuster trade that also sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn. Those two future Hall of Famers have received most of the headlines, but Terry could prove to play a critical role off the bench and never seems fearful of tweaking an opponent.
Smith, recently banned for five games for a third positive test for marijuana, elbowed Terry during last season’s Knicks-Celtics first-round playoff series. That earned Smith a one-game suspension and temporarily turned momentum in the first-round series, which the Knicks won in six games.
The addition of the three players from Boston has turned the Nets into title contenders.
“Only thing I can predict is that we’re going to go out every night and do all that we can, as a team, as a unit, as a [borough] of Brooklyn to go out and fight for that championship because that’s all of our goals,” Terry told Dime. “And we’re going to do whatever we can within our power to go after it.”