Knicks, Nets both craving to improve — but with clearly different benchmarks

Mike Brown was only delivering on what he’d promised, OK? This was the eve of his first Knicks-Nets Interborough Squabble, the first time he would coach against his old protégé and pal, Jordi Fernández, each man leading one of New York’s two NBA teams.

(And yes, as of 10:37 Sunday night, the Nets had not yet been relegated and so remained an NBA team — in theory, at least.)

Anyway, this is what Brown had said in anticipation of this collision between mentor and mentee:

“It’s great, I’m just happy for him and his family. He’s a great young coach. He’s got a young team, obviously, so they’ve got to figure things out. Anytime I get a chance to see him, I always love to see him, but I want to kick his ass.”