NBA

Pierce leaves Knicks off list of Nets’ threats

Forget anyone, Paul?

In his first day with a Nets uniform, Paul Pierce took an intra-city swipe at the Knicks, conspicuously leaving them off of a list of contenders to challenge the defending champion Heat in the Eastern Conference.

“I think we’re going to be right up there with the best of them,” Pierce said at yesterday’s introductory press conference when asked where his new team stacks up in the East. “Right now, you have to talk about Miami, obviously. They’re the champs. And you look at Chicago and Indiana, and then I think you really have to take a close look at what we’ve been able to put together.

NETS FREE AGENCY TRACKER

“We feel like with the talent we’ve got, we’re definitely going to compete in the Eastern Conference, and hopefully [for] a championship.”

For anyone who thought Pierce, who had huge games at Madison Square Garden throughout his 15-year career with the Celtics, simply forgot about the cross-river rivals, he squashed that theory when he was asked in a subsequent interview on WFAN if he purposefully excluded the Knicks.

“Definitely,” he said.