Michael Jordan (photo. Jordan Brand)

The Knicks’ visitors locker room is cordoned off into two sections: there’s the front where all reporters can mingle with the out-of-town team, and then a back area saved for trainers tables, workout equipment, and players who don’t want to talk to the media.

So when we walked in this evening and saw Jason Richardson, Gerald Wallace, Emeka Okafor, and Ray Felton in the front half, we wondered why some PR people were blockading the back room. Which VIP’s could have been in the back? Wearing a cream colored turtleneck as if it were still 1979, Michael Jordan was laughing with Larry Brown as if they were seeing each other for the first time in ages.

While some guys in the locker room were paying closer attention to MJ and the Emperor, Larry Brown’s conversation than they were to getting ready, others were picking apart the bag of candy stationed in the center of the Bobcats’ locker room where healthy snacks and fruit usually are.

Though Brown might be more of a figure head than a coach on this team, the Bobcats do have support with Jason Richardson. He’s not only an eminently likable guy, but he also feels like a real leader. After lacing up a crazy pair of Charlotte Hyperdunks with “Jaela” and “Champ” written on the tongues for his two kids, J-Rich popped up and ordered Ray Felton and D.J. Augustin to follow him to the court.

It was pretty low-key in the Knicks’ locker room – there’s an unstated focus right now as they’re going up against Larry Brown. We didn’t see Jamal Crawford before the game, but we heard him at the home opener talking about how he wasn’t the biggest fan of Brown’s system.

Zach Randolph put together three songs for a pre-game mix – Fab’s “Trade It All,” Busta’s “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See,” and Joe Budden’s “Pump It Up.” I’d so much rather listen to that than Q-Tip’s awful remix of “Go New York Go.”

100% got chills during the national anthem when different sections of this MSG crowd were screaming “Obama!” during the close.