Ignorance is bliss

This wasn't supposed to happen. Not now, and not ever.

Don't let the regular season standings fool you, the New Jersey Nets simply don't play for NBA championships.

The New Jersey Nets sit at home with a bowl of popcorn watching battles between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, Robert Parrish and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Kevin McHale and James Worthy, and dreaming of the day their contract expires or they're dealt to a contender.

The only problem is, these aren't your daddy's New Jersey Nets.

The "Clippers of the East" as they've been called, are different now. They're talented, they're explosive, they're cocky, and most importantly, they're oblivious.

They're oblivious to the fact that fans, experts, and even former teammates (Stephon Marbury) simply think of them as "that other New York team."

In an area where it was harder to find a Nets' fan before this season, than it was to find John Rocker strolling down Fifth Avenue, the Nets simply had no idea that winning would not only change the Eastern Conference standings, but also the tee-shirt colors of many Big Apple area residents from blue and orange to gray and navy.

While the beloved Knicks struggled mightily this season, missing the playoffs for the first time in over a decade, the Nets forgot that the hopes of all New York NBA fans resided in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

They simply played basketball, stormed the Atlantic division and earned the No. 1 seed in the east.

They're oblivious to the fact that team basketball, in the traditional sense of the term, is now considered obsolete.

In a game where high scoring stars not only win games, but fill stands as well, the Nets relied on Kenyon Martin, a human time-bomb in only his second NBA season, and Keith Van Horn, an unassuming, underachieving Mormon, to carry their scoring load.

Meanwhile, the one player on the team who has ever been selected to an All-Star team, Jason Kidd, has a rare specialty in today's game -- sharing.

He shared enough to claim his annual reserved spot among the NBA's assist leaders, and enough to improve several of his teammates so much that they had career years.

The New Jersey Nets are oblivious to tradition, and one wonders if they could even define the word.

Apparently they didn't see the sixteen NBA championship banners hanging in Boston's Fleet Center.

Apparently they didn't notice that not a single one of those banners resides in East Rutherford.

Don't blame them for messing up tradition, they simply didn't know.

Having set the stage for the timeless rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, New Jersey was simply supposed to roll over and die, giving every member of the media his dream NBA Finals series.

The two Goliaths of NBA past were supposed to duke it out, giving the Classic Sports network material to televise for weeks.

Boston vs. L.A., a clash of New England and Hollywood, re-ignition of the NBA's most intense rivalry.

It was supposed to happen, but Shhhhh... don't tell the Nets.

They're oblivious.