Today, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, hosted a press conference to introduce the fight card for the Battle of Brooklyn scheduled for Saturday, December 7, 2013.

At the top of the card and on stage were two of the borough's favorite sons, former Five-Time, Two-Division World Champion Zab "Super" Judah and former Two-Time, Two-Division World Champion Paulie "The Magic Man" Malignaggi.

"I am happy to be back fighting in front of my hometown crowd," said Judah, who is from Brownsville. "Paulie and I have known each other for a long time and we have a mutual respect for each other, but with this fight on Dec. 7 it is going to be like the ancient Roman days. There has to be a leader and that position belongs to me."

"I have always admired Zab's skills and his resume speaks for itself," said Malignaggi, a native of Bensonhurst. "But this is the 'Battle of Brooklyn' and winning this fight is worth more than any world title."

"Judah vs. Malignaggi promises to be a high intensity chess match between two master boxers," said Vice President of Super Judah Promotions Bill Halkias. "This fight is not only special to Brooklyn boxing fans, but also a highly anticipated fight for boxing fans in general. Who wouldn't want to see two highly skilled and experienced world champion boxers go at it for the right to be crowned 'The King of Brooklyn'? I believe Dec. 7 will be a night to remember."

"Judah vs. Malignaggi promises to be a high intensity chess match between two master boxers," said Vice President of Super Judah Promotions Bill Halkias. "This fight is not only special to Brooklyn boxing fans, but also a highly anticipated fight for boxing fans in general. Who wouldn't want to see two highly skilled and experienced world champion boxers go at it for the right to be crowned 'The King of Brooklyn'? I believe Dec. 7 will be a night to remember."

"We've hosted some great fights at Barclays Center in our first year, but this one is different – this fight is about two Brooklyn-born-and-raised fighters proudly representing their respective neighborhoods," said Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark. "Paulie and Zab are pros at captivating audiences with their big personalities and boxing skills. We are delighted that they will once again step into Brooklyn's most celebrated ring for what is sure to be another memorable night of boxing at Barclays Center."

"Highly competitive, hard-fought, exciting fights have been the hallmark of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING all year long, and the December 7 card is no different," said Stephen Espinoza, EVP and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. "If you want tune-ups, appearance fights or mismatches, then look elsewhere. But if you're looking for evenly matched, meaningful fights featuring four of the most skilled boxers in any division, then the December 7 edition of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a can't-miss."

The Judah vs. Malignaggi 12-round welterweight fight will take place on December 7, 2013 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The SHOWTIME telecast begins at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) and will be available in Spanish via secondary audio programming (SAP).

The preliminary co-featured bout, Erislandy Lara vs. Austin "No Doubt" Trout will air on SHOWTIME EXTREME also on December 7, 2013 at 7 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).

Did we mention that the fight is on December 7?

Kidd Leads Nets to Record-Setting January

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd has been named the NBA's Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for January after leading the Nets to a 10-3 record, the league announced today.

This marks the first Coach of the Month honor for Kidd in his first season as a head coach. The Nets' 10-3 (.769) record in January marked the best winning percentage for the month of January in the franchise's 38 NBA seasons.

However, it was not too long ago, that some thought Kidd should be fired.

Let's take a walk back. At the start of the NBA season, many were critical of the Brooklyn Nets management for hiring Jason Kidd as an NBA head coach. After all, he had just retired as a player from the New York Knicks only a few weeks prior to the head coach announcement.
Kidd lacked experience said his detractors.

As the regular season got into full swing and the Brooklyn Nets went on a downward spiral losing game after game, the naysayers amplified the chatter for the firing of the rookie coach.

With the Nets on a losing streak and many calling for the proverbial hammer to come down, Kidd made a decisive turn in early December; he demoted his primary assistant, Lawrence Frank, by "reassigning" him to report-filing duties.

The Nets fortunes didn't turnaround on a dime and the team continued to experience misfortunes in December.
Center Brook Lopez broke his foot in December. There was also the embarrassing 95-78 Christmas Day loss to the Chicago Bulls.

On December 31, The Nets left the court early during a blowout loss to the Spurs on December 31, forcing Kidd to take a timeout so that he could retrieve them from the locker room.

With a new year, often come new resolutions; and the Brooklyn Nets as a team must have decided to resolve to win in the new year.

The Nets strung together two five-game winning streaks under the first year head coach's guidance and held nine of their 13 opponents under 100 points, resulting in eight victories. Brooklyn also won four of five road games in January, including a buzzer-beating victory to begin the month at Oklahoma City January 2.

Kidd, who won NBA Player of the Month honors twice as a member of the Nets (November 2001 and December 2002) and once as a member of the Phoenix Suns (April 1999) becomes the fourth person in NBA history to win both coach and player of the month honors, joining Larry Bird, Larry Drew and Jeff Hornacek. Kidd also becomes the second person to win both honors with the same franchise, joining Hornacek, who captured both honors with the Suns, including Coach of the Month in December 2013.

Kidd becomes the fourth head coach in franchise history to earn Coach of the Month honors, joining Avery Johnson (November 2012), four-time winner Lawrence Frank (February 2004, April 2005, March 2006 and April 2007) and two-time winner Byron Scott (December 2002 and December 2003).

Speaking of Avery Johnson, even though he won Eastern Conference Coach of the Month in November 2012, Nets management lost patience with the team's struggles and fired Johnson the following month in December 2012.

Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson has been hitting his stride as of late.

Johnson turned on his magic during the week of March 17 – March 23, 2014, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) took notice!

The NBA announced today that Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, March 17 through Sunday, March 23, 2014.

It marks the first time this season a Nets player has captured the honor.

However, Johnson is no stranger to this accolade; this marks his seventh designation as NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

He previously earned the distinction six times as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, most recently for the week of March 19-25, 2012.

Johnson helped the Nets to the Eastern Conference's only 4-0 week behind averages of 22.0 points on 54.1% shooting (58.3% from three-point range), 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 32.5 minutes per game.

The All-Star guard scored 19 points (7-11 shooting) in 29 minutes in a 108-95 victory over the Phoenix Suns on March17. Two nights later, Johnson scored 20 points and grabbed a season-high eight rebounds in a 104-99 win over the Charlotte Bobcats. Johnson scored a game-high 27 points (10-16 shooting, 6-8 from three-point range) in 30 minutes in a 114-98 victory over the Boston Celtics March 21. Johnson completed his week by scoring a team-high 22 points (18 of which came in the second half and overtime) in a 107-104 victory over the Dallas Mavericks March 23. In the Dallas game, Johnson recorded his fourth game-winning or tying basket with under one minute to go in a game this season when he converted a driving layup with 9.9 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

In addition to helping the Nets to four straight victories, marking the second-longest active winning streak in the NBA, trailing only San Antonio's 13 straight victories, Johnson has also helped the Nets to a season-best 11 straight home victories and an Eastern Conference-best 27-10 record since January 1.

Johnson is the first Nets player to capture the award since Devin Harris for the week of February 23-March 1, 2009.

LeBron James: "Northeast Ohio is Bigger Than Basketball"

The longer LeBRON JAMES' free-agency period lasted, the more it looked like he was headed to Cleveland. It became even more apparent that King James might be headed to Cleveland when he reportedly summoned PAT RILEY to meet with him in Las Vegas and that meeting lasted all of 30 minutes. Additionally, speculation that CHRIS BOSH would be signing with the Houston Rockets heightened the chatter that James was on his way to Cleveland. Then, there was the media blackout.

Today, as anticipation continued to build about LeBRON JAMES' status, things started to hit a fever pitch.

The conversation focused on the #LeBronLetter; the now infamous letter written by the Cleveland Cavaliers owner DAN GILBERT after King James left Cleveland in search of a championship with his compatriots in Miami. Twitter was on fire with comments about the #LeBronLetter. I even added my two cents on Twitter regarding the letter, including advice for what it's worth.

In my humble opinion, the #LeBronLetter was a very sophomoric move by an owner whose net worth is probably 10 figures. Gilbert came across like a spurned lover, not like a savvy businessperson. After all, basketball and sports in general is a business.

Hopefully, going forward, DAN GILBERT will be able to demonstrate that he, the elder in the room, has matured. A cool head is needed for the sake of the team and for the fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With this new decision, the moving trucks, planes, and trains are headed to Ohio. And, we now all know why LeBRON JAMES' camp didn't leak a morsel. He wanted to get his "moving on" story out to the public without interruption from reporters.

Now that we know King James is moving his castle back to Northeast Ohio, we can now move on and wait to hear from Prince CARMELO ANTHONY.