Carmelo Anthony (photo. Zach Wolfe)

New Jersey will be coming for that NYC crown soon enough, but at least for now, the Knicks are still the big brother. Even if it was preseason, New York gets bragging rights for at least a few more weeks, beating the Nets in Newark 92-83. While we can’t take too much away from a preseason game – c’mon, Renaldo Balkman led everyone with 20 – both teams got some nice contributions from their role players. Rookie Iman Shumpert (16 points) outplayed every other perimeter player for the Knicks, and rookie Marshon Brooks (10 points) and Anthony Morrow (15 points) put in work from the perimeter … At least offensively, Amar’e Stoudemire (10 points) and Carmelo Anthony (17 points in three quarters) looked pretty in-tune for the first preseason game. While only shooting 3-for-11, Stoudemire had a nice all-around game besides that, and ‘Melo was draining Js. They had one sequence in the second quarter where Anthony went backdoor and caught a lob from STAT with one hand before dunking with two. On the next play, Anthony hit Renaldo Balkman with a dope no-look scoop pass. We caught the announcers saying Stoudemire is claiming he grew an inch over the summer because of the lower back stretching that realigned his spine. C’mon now. We guess “I gained 15 pounds of muscle over the summer” was too cliche. Better posture and getting taller at 29 years old are too different things. The whole idea of offseason physical reports is just stupid. You know it’s bad when there are varying reports that directly contradict each other. We heard a few weeks back that Tyreke Evans was badly overweight and out of shape. Then he shows up to camp, and it’s rather obvious dude has dropped some pounds. Everyone thinks they can ace an eye test … Brook Lopez had 15 points and 11 rebounds … The most interesting matchup of the game was probably Shumpert and Brooks, two rookies with potentially big physical advantages (Brooks with his go-go gadget arms and Shumpert looking like his body’s already more developed than 70 percent of the league). Both hit jumpers, both looked decent getting to the rack and both look like they’ll be solid contributors this year. Shumpert is going to have to be defensively because Mike Bibby is straight-up atrocious on that end. We doubt he could check one of us. Combining Mike D’Antoni with Bibby is like throwing a dog into a shark tank. New York fans are already freaking out that he’s not going to be able to accurately honor that No. 20 … By the second half, Clyde was openly wondering “Where is the Kardashian guy? What happened to him?” … Reports continue to say Baron Davis wants to sign with either the Knicks or the Lakers. New York could use any backcourt help they can get … And another Knick target, Travis Outlaw, was claimed off amnesty waivers by Sacramento … The Warriors beat Sacramento 107-96, and out of all the games yesterday, this one played the most like a real game. For the Warriors, their backcourt put in work. Stephen Curry did his thing (22 points, six rebounds, six assists), but Monta Ellis was conservative in his shot selection (8-for-11) and played a great floor game (eight assists) to go along with his 18 points. If he keeps that up, no way he doesn’t make the All-Star Game. Meanwhile, the Kings’ backcourt trio of Jimmer Fredette (21 points), Tyreke Evans (17 points, seven assists) and Marcus Thornton (21 points) all played well. How will Jimmer D-up in the league? On his first chance, Ellis went by him for a layup like Fredette was stuck in quicksand. He was getting killed all night on that end, but still he made up for it with his shooting. But someone get him some black kicks already. Tyreke Evans looked every bit the beast he was during his rookie year, going right to the rim nearly every time he wanted to. Of course, even with Mark Jackson, it was still the Warriors … With Tim Duncan and Tony Parker not playing, San Antonio got rocked by 14 in Houston. Luis Scola (20 points) and Jordan Hill (17 points, 13 rebounds) had nice outings, and in case you wanted a Hasheem Thabeet update: He already had four fouls by the half … It didn’t take long for us to fall in love with the T’Wolves. Minnesota destroyed Milwaukee 117-96 behind 21 a piece from Michael Beasley and Kevin Love. Love had 15 and 11 by halftime while Ricky Rubio did the same things he’s always done in Europe in his first NBA game (six points, six rebounds, seven assists). Now that Beasley has his head shaved, you are going to confuse him and Derrick Williams up often… until Beas does something crazy… Keep reading to hear about how much money Rodney Stuckey got, and who the Lakers want to replace Lamar Odom …