And, that’s exactly what Mushnick has done.

Last Friday, Mushnick wrote a column in that New York tabloid, the Post, after the transplanted New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association introduced at a press conference, their new Brooklyn Nets logo and uniforms as they embark on their new identity in New York City’s borough of kings.

The logos, designed by Nets’ minority owner and rap artist, Jay-Z, have a decidedly urban feel, reflecting as the Nets’ own press release says, “our black and white colors speak to Brooklyn’s strong traditions and grittiness and convey an uncompromising confidence.”

Mushnick, who in his 30-year career at the Post has railed against the influence of money and the business side of sports as a pollutant to the pure athletic experience – costs of tickets, TV starting times past kids’ bedtimes, networks promoting programs by showing their stars in the stands, has been familiar with Jay-Z’s career and the lyrics to his songs.

Mushnick decided that Mr. Z and the Nets were promulgating imagery in their designs and logos that reflect the same sensibilities often discovered in the rapper’s songs, many of them speaking to the misogyny and violence on the streets often experienced among young, African-Americans in urban, gritty neighborhoods.

Mushnick must have listened to or read Mr. Z’s lyrics, such as from the song, 99 Problems:

99 Problems but a bitch ain’t one
If you having girl problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one
Hit me
Now once upon a time not too long ago
A nigga like myself had to strong arm a hoe
This is not a hoe in the sense of having a pussy
But a pussy having no God Damn sense, try and push me
I tried to ignore him and talk to the Lord
Pray for him, cause some fools just love to perform
You know the type loud as a motor bike
But wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight
The only thing that’s gonna happen is i’mma get to clapping
He and his boys gon’ be yapping to the captain
And there I go trapped in the kit kat again

Perhaps, the Post columnist sees the language of the street in these lyrics and wonders why the gritty, urban feel of Jay-Z’s lifestyle and views of the hood were allowed to be ingrained into the Nets’ new marketing campaign to attract new fans. Mushnick made the choice to castigate the Nets and Mr. Z by suggesting they were going only part of the way in conveying the grittiness of the urban experience to young basketball fans. He suggested the following in his column:

“As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots — what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new “urban” home — why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment? Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York Niggers? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn Bitches or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!”

Shocking stuff that has created a Twitter and internet outcry since last Friday. Interestingly, the Post, a conservative newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch, has not commented on Mushnick’s piece, as of yet. Has Mushnick perhaps, gone a little far to extrapolate a team’s marketing campaign as a direct reflection of a songwriter’s lyrics? Possibly, in fact probably but his old school ways of having poor people and kids and those without corporate connections to be influenced in any way by direct or indirect messaging has been at the root of his existence as a columnist. And his feeling is, like it or not, I’m going to write it how I see it.

I don’t know Mushnick personally but I’ve been reading the guy for most of his career. The one thing I can safely say is, he is no racist. He is anti many things but race is not one of them. His rants do tend to go against big business interests and how the little guy has been hurt by the pricing of tickets and monthly cable television bills. And, he hates phonies. He thinks Jay-Z is a phony. This is what Mushnick wrote in response to the firestorm of his Friday column:

“Such obvious, wishful and ignorant mischaracterizations of what I write are common. I don’t call black men the N-word; I don’t regard young women as bitches and whores; I don’t glorify the use of assault weapons and drugs. Jay-Z, on the other hand…..Is he the only NBA owner allowed to call black men Niggers?”

Um, he has a point and on that basis, Jay-Z won’t respond. What’s he going to say? I never said that or I didn’t mean to call women bitches and hoes? Whether or not Mr. Z has seen the light since becoming a father to a daughter with singer, Beyonce is almost besides the point. His reputation and his lyrics have been steeped in the same urban, misogynistic grittiness that Mushnick believes is now being implemented in the marketing of the Brooklyn Nets.

Finally, New York could celebrate an NBA playoff victory again.

Carmelo Anthony scored 41 points, Stoudemire had 20 points and 10 rebounds in his return from a cut hand, and the Knicks snapped an NBA-record, 13-game postseason losing streak by beating the Miami Heat 89-87 Sunday in Game 4 of their first-round series.

“I think it’s the first of many,” said Stoudemire, his left arm back in a sling to keep his hand elevated. “Tonight was a great win for us, for our fans to finally get over that hump of those consecutive games that we lost, I guess the Knicks, lost over those years in the playoffs.”

Melo shrugged off both the burden of a playoff-starved franchise and his own postseason failures.

Anthony made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 54.5 seconds left as the Knicks overcame another serious injury to win a playoff game for the first time since beating Toronto on April 29, 2001, in Game 3 of a best-of-five series. Baron Davis dislocated his right kneecap in the third quarter, just as the Knicks were making the run that got them back into the game after a dismal first half.

“I’m just glad that we came together after that, kept our composure, kept on fighting and won the basketball game,” Anthony said.

LeBron James scored 27 for the Heat, who will try to close it out in Game 5 at home on Wednesday. Dwyane Wade had 22, but missed a 3-pointer on the last possession that would have given Miami a lengthy rest before starting the second round.

“We’d love to take the week (off) but it’s not in the cards for us to do that in this round,” Wade said. “You know, we’ll adjust. We play Wednesday in Miami at 7 o’clock. We’ll be ready to play and give our fans another exciting game.”

Wade’s errant shot set off a loud celebration from Knicks fans whose team was on the verge of getting swept for the second straight year, and third straight time dating to 2004. It didn’t look as if the elusive postseason victory would come in this series, after the Knicks had been blown out by 20 points per game in the first three games.

But they got a huge lift from Stoudemire, playing with padding over his hand just six days after he punched a fire extinguisher case after a Game 2 loss in Miami. And they got a sensational effort from Anthony, who shot 15 of 29 and was one point shy of his playoff career best after he made only 34.4 percent of his shots in the first three games.

“We stepped up to the challenge,” Anthony said.

Now here comes another: The Knicks need a solution at point guard after Davis was carted off on a stretcher with his severe knee injury. Jeremy Lin is close to returning from knee surgery, but Iman Shumpert was lost with a torn knee ligament in Game 1.

A day after the Dallas team that beat them in the finals was swept by Oklahoma City, the Heat failed in their attempt for their first sweep since beating Washington in the 2005 Eastern Conference semifinals.

The series was on pace to be one of the most lopsided in NBA history through three games, but this one was within four points the entire fourth quarter, the crowd at Madison Square Garden growing louder with every play that moved the Knicks closer to their first playoff win in 11 years.

Mike Bibby’s 3-pointer with 1:23 left snapped an 81-all tie, but the Heat called timeout and ran a play that freed James for a wide-open 3 that tied it again seven seconds later. On the Knicks’ next possession, Anthony came far beyond the arc to receive the ball after JR Smith picked up his dribble, then dribbled forward and pulled up for a 3 that made it 87-84 with 54.5 to play.

The Heat turned it over on their next possession when Chris Bosh’s pass sailed into the backcourt, and Anthony was fouled by Shane Battier attempting a 3-pointer. He made only one foul shot, and the Heat cut it to one again when James converted a three-point play while drawing Tyson Chandler’s sixth foul.

Stoudemire made a free throw with 14 seconds left to make it 89-87, and Wade lost control of the ball driving into the middle on Miami’s last possession. He regained it and dribbled to the corner for a 3-pointer that was off.

“I had a lane and then I kind of lost the ball. When I lost it, I knew that they’d recover by then so it made me dribble it out,” Wade said. “We got the switch and I got a little step on Amare and I was about to go to my shot. I was about to go to my shot but I kind of fumbled the ball a little bit. I thought I got a good look. I thought it was going in. But it came up a little short.”

Stoudemire had surgery Wednesday to repair a muscle in his left hand and the Knicks had listed him as doubtful for Sunday, but he was back on the court during practice Friday and cleared to play in Game 4.

He was back in his usual spot as the last player introduced during starting lineups, getting a loud reception, and he quickly picked the Knicks up after their sluggish start.

“He’s a good player. He’s a great player honestly, and he gave them the spark that they needed,” James said.

The Heat jumped to an 8-1 lead, holding the Knicks without a basket for almost four minutes to start the game. Then Stoudemire had three baskets in a 12-2 spurt to give the Knicks the lead, and they were up 20-18 after one following two free throws by Anthony with 7.3 seconds left.

The game then turned into a foul-fest, with 23 called in the second period. The Heat shot 19 free throws, making 14, while the Knicks were 8 of 9. Stoudemire and Chandler both went to the bench with their third fouls, but the Heat failed to pull away even after forcing the Knicks to miss their first six shots of the period while opening a 10-point lead.

Both teams shot 33 percent in the quarter, played at a glacial pace while the teams paraded to the free-throw line. Miami led 44-38 at halftime.

Miami led 51-40 before the Knicks’ offense finally got going. Stoudemire made a jumper and converted a three-point play, Anthony made a layup, and Smith stole the ball and made a 3-pointer for a quick 10-0 run.

James missed and the ball was batted up ahead to Davis, who drove in with a chance to give the Knicks the lead. But his leg buckled near the foul line and he crumbled to the court, called for a travel. Concerned teammates quickly waved for help, and Davis was wheeled off the court.

But New York regrouped and surged into the lead, going up by six late in the period before taking a 64-61 advantage to the fourth. After making only 13 baskets in the first half, the Knicks shot 10 of 20 in the third, getting 11 points from Anthony.

The Miami Heat defeated the Knicks tonight and the New York season has come down to this. They are staring at an 0-3 deficit in this best of four series with Sunday’s game at Madison Square Garden their last remaining chance to win a playoff game in front of their home fans.

LeBron James scored 32 points, including eight straight to start the fourth quarter and break open the game, sending the Knicks to an NBA postseason-record 13th straight loss, 87-70 on Thursday night.

James had 17 points in the final period, who held the short-handed Knicks to eight field goals in the second half and will go for the sweep Sunday afternoon.

The Knicks losing streak in playoff games goes back to the 2001 series against Toronto. The franchise has not won a playoff game in 11 years.

After a strong first half, in which the Knicks led 40-36, they took the second half off, offensively, shooting only 21% while scoring only 30 points the entire half. It was an embarrassing display, in front of their home fans.

This series has shown, if nothing else, the Heat either play the best defense ever seen in NBA annals or the Knicks roster is simply a mish mosh of misplaced talents who can’t get a shot off against a team as focused, defensively-talented and just better than the New Yorkers, as Miami clearly is.

Carmelo Anthony, who had to have one of his monster games for the Knicks to have a chance tonight and in the series, instead spit the bit by shooting 7 of 23 from the field.

J.R. Smith, who had to have one of his monster games, also came up small, shooting just 5 of 18 from the field.

Steve Novak, who started in place of the injured Amar’e Stoudemire and who had to be a three-point shooting machine for the Knicks to have a chance, was unable to even get shots off against the tough Heat defense. He ended up shooting an abysmal 0-2 from the field, for zero points.

It seems like we can’t score the ball right now,” said Anthony. “That is the toughest part right now. We played phenomenal defense for most of the game but D-Wade came out in the fourth quarter and hit a couple of shots that seemed to open the game up. LeBron came in with fresh legs, hit a couple of shots and they opened it up from there.”

“I think they just try to make it hard for me,” Anthony added. “They make my catches hard out there. They beat me up as much as they can. They throw everything at you…Shane Battier, LeBron. You drive the lane and they make it hard for you.

The first half was played out exactly how the Knicks would have hoped. They held a halftime lead, 40-36, and were controlling the pace of the game. James and Wade couldn’t get out and run the home team out of the gym and the two superstars found it difficult even getting good shots because of the Knicks scrappy defense in the first 24 minutes.

“We got back in transition and played great defense in the first half,” said Knicks coach Mike Woodson. “We moved the ball side to side, and found the open man.”

Woodson was right. Everything went according to plan in that half, holding Dwyane Wade to six points and James to just 12 points on 2 of 7 shooting from the field.

But, it all changed in the second half, when Miami outscored the Knicks, 51-30 and James, as usual, was the catalyst.

LeBron, who finished with eight turnovers, took over as soon as the fourth quarter began. After sitting most of the third in foul trouble, he quickly provided the best offensive stretch in the game. He nailed a 3-pointer, followed his own miss, then hit again from behind the arc, turning the Heat’s two-point lead into a 66-56 cushion with 10:36 remaining.

“He was in foul trouble,” Bosh said. “He was struggling a little bit and he had pretty much the whole third quarter to think about what was going on. I think that was good for him. I think it really built a desire in him a little bit and then he made sure we got off to a great start in the fourth quarter which was very important for us.”

The Heat put it away midway through the period, when Wade made a jumper before Chalmers hit twice in a row from behind the arc to make it 77-62 with 5:40 to play.

Fans started leaving, realizing there was little hope of the Knicks making up 15 points on anybody with the lineup they have.

The 19-year-old outfielder, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft, will be recalled by the Washington Nationals from Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday.

Widely regarded as baseball’s top prospect, Harper will meet the Nationals in Los Angeles, where they are playing the Dodgers, and take the roster spot of third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who is going on the 15-day disabled list with inflammation in his right shoulder.

“Suffice it to say, this isn’t the coming-out party for Bryce that we had in mind,” Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said Friday on a conference call. “This isn’t the optimal situation developmentally.”

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The Nationals also placed reliever Brad Lidge on the 15-day disabled list with an abdominal wall strain, the second of the team’s three potential closers to go on the shelf. Lidge, whose move is retroactive to April 22, had been sharing closer duties with Henry Rodriguez while Drew Storen recovers from elbow surgery.

Washington also recalled right-hander Ryan Perry from Triple-A Syracuse.

Harper skipped his final year of high school, earned his GED, then played one season of junior college baseball at the College of Southern Nevada to become eligible for the draft and get a head-start on his professional career. He signed a five-year, $9.9 million contract, including $6.5 million in signing bonuses, with the Nationals in August 2010.

“If you develop properly, a by-product of developing properly is winning,” said Nats manager Davey Johnson. “Harper has had great springs in spring training. He is a formidable talent, and he has been swinging the bat good down there. We had a need here for a left-handed bat. We’re trying to get more of a left-handed presence in our lineup, and he is the guy who fit that role.”

Rizzo has stated repeatedly that he thinks all young players should spend time at each level of the minors before moving to the big leagues. So while Johnson wanted Rizzo to consider letting Harper skip Triple-A, the team sent him to Syracuse after he hit .286 in spring training this year.

But with their top two hitters — Zimmerman and left fielder Michael Morse, who’s been out all season with a problematic back muscle — sidelined by injuries, the team decided to bring up Harper now. He was hitting .250 with a homer and three RBIs in 72 at-bats at Syracuse.

“We still have a very good and committed developmental plan for Bryce in place. I still believe very passionately in the plan, and am committed to it. But it was expedited by the circumstances,” Rizzo said. “We felt that we needed to bring in an impactful, left-handed bat that could play the corner outfield.”

Rizzo headed to Rochester, N.Y., this week to watch Harper play in three games for Syracuse — and liked what he saw, including how Harper fared in the field.

Harper played primarily catcher in college, but the Nationals immediately shifted him to right field when they drafted him. They also wanted him to play some center field at Syracuse, because that’s a spot where Washington needs help.

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“He’s swinging the bat extremely well right now, and looked comfortable in left field,” Rizzo said.

Asked whether Harper would start for Washington on Saturday, Rizzo wouldn’t answer directly, saying that’s a question for Johnson.

But Rizzo did say: “We didn’t bring Bryce up there to sit on the bench. He’s going to get every-day reps and get ample at-bats.”

“He will get an opportunity to play,” Johnson said. “As far as I’m concerned, he has earned the right to get the opportunity. He is just a good ballplayer coming up to the big leagues, is the way I look at it.”

Rizzo wouldn’t weigh in on whether Harper necessarily will stay in the majors, even after Zimmerman returns, or is definitely going to go back to the minors.

“This is a very confident person, and we expect him to do well in the major leagues,” Rizzo said. “He’s the type of guy who will handle anything that is thrown at him and will be the better for it.”

The Nationals were an NL-leading 14-5 heading into their game at Dodger Stadium on Friday night. That’s thanks mainly to outstanding starting pitching; the offense has been inconsistent.

Morse, the team’s cleanup hitter, isn’t expected back for weeks. Zimmerman, the No. 3 hitter, could return as soon as May 6, Rizzo said, because his stint on the DL is backdated.

“We don’t think it’s a debilitating injury,” Rizzo said, “but it takes time to heal.”

“It was pretty surprising but I knew the Giants had a lot of interest in me,” Randle said. “I got a few phone calls from the guys. A couple people from LSU kind of were giving little signs that they were interested in me so I knew once it came up that there was an opportunity for them to draft me.”

In the third round, 94th overall, the Giants chose Virginia Tech cornerback Jayron Hosley to bolster a cornerback corps with question marks beyond Corey Webster. The Giants selected Hosley’s teammate, running back David Wilson, in the first round on Thursday.

Randle was invited to the draft because he was projected as a late first-round to second-round draft pick but tumbled down to end of the second round to the Giants, who had a first-round grade on him and had discussed taking him with their first-round selection Thursday night.

“I really didn’t think there was a chance we were going to get him,” Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross said. “He was one of those where at the end of the night, you think he he’s going to be one of the first few guys taken at the top of the round. It was very surprising that he was there.”

The way Ross was talking about Rueben Randle’s physicality and body positioning minutes after the team drafted the LSU wide receiver in the second round, it sounded exactly like what the Giants were saying about Hakeem Nicks when they drafted him in 2009.

Sure enough, later on Friday night, Jerry Reese made the connection between the two.

“He plays big, he can post guys up. People mentioned Hakeem Nicks when we talked about him in our room,” the Giants’ general manager said. “He’s not blazing fast and I don’t think Hakeem is blazing fast either, but he’s game fast. And he’s bigger than Hakeem. Very good hands, ball skills. Talented, talented football player.”

Randle didn’t test extremely well (4.55-second 40-yard dash) and neither did Nicks. But like Nicks, the Giants see Randle as a good route runner who plays fast on game days.

“We think he’s NFL-ready,” Reese said, echoing a phrase Ross used. “He runs the entire route tree. This day and age in college football, it’s all about the spread offense and guys don’t run the full tree. This kid runs the full route tree and he looks like a big pro wide receiver out there the way he moves around and we think he’s going to be a quick fit into the offense.”

Coach Tom Coughlin said Randle got a good endorsement from LSU assistant coach Thomas McGaughey, a former assistant on Coughlin’s staff. Coughlin also said Reese has a trusted source on LSU’s staff.

Reese said the team discussed drafting Randle in the first round on Thursday night.

“Really a little bit surprised about him still being there because we know he thought he could’ve gone early in the second (round),” Reese said. “But he was still there and we were fortunate to get a guy of his caliber.”

So you can believe statements like that from the Giants – or any team, for that matter – or you can look at them with a skeptical eye. (Heck, I believe them here. I mean, I didn’t mention Randle as a target in my entry about taking a receiver in the second round because I didn’t think there was any shot he’d be there.)

But for the sake of conversation and exploration here, let’s assume they’re telling the truth when they say they really were talking about a guy a round earlier, he was the highest-rated player left by far and they were shocked he was still available.

So why not trade up to grab him? Why wait for him to fall to them?

“We take a lot of pride in getting the proper grade on a player, a lot of pride in ranking the player properly and stacking the board and believing there’s going to be a good player for us to pick by virtue of showing patience and not doing a lot of maneuvering,” Coughlin said. “As an organization, when we go into a draft, we look at the number of picks we have and we certainly expect to come out of the draft with that many or, if we’re fortunate, more. We don’t do a lot of trading, we don’t do a lot of maneuvering.

“We do have a number of calls that come into the room offering to maneuver, a lot of which are, ‘Are you interested in…’ And to move substantially, particularly if you’re going to move up substantially, it’s going to cost you some picks.”

Reese said pretty much the same thing.

“We like using all of our picks,” he said. “We’ve moved up to get guys before and it hasn’t worked out great for us before so we’re a little bit leery of moving up to take guys. We’ve done that in the past and I don’t think our success has been very good doing that.”

Off the top of my head, the two guys the Giants moved up to grab most recently were wide receivers Sinorice Moss and Ramses Barden.

Some loose ends from Coughlin:

–On whether CB Jayron Hosley’s physical nature (Coughlin kept calling him “feisty”) will have to be curbed a bit in the NFL, where defensive backs can’t get away with a whole lot of contact: “We’ll probably start with the aggressive. And then work from there.” So does he mean they’ll tell Hosley to remain aggressive? “Sure,” he said. “Absolutely.”

–Coughlin expects Hosley to contribute as a punt returner, gunner and on kickoff coverage. If he’s as aggressive as advertised, he could work very well as a gunner.

–On what the team looks for in draft picks: “Speed and athleticism. That’s pretty much been something we’ve tried to attain with all of our picks, regardless of if they’re defense or offense or whatever they may be. It’s a common trait of athleticism. Speed obviously, when you look at Rueben’s gym numbers, they’re not going to be as impressive as perhaps we’d all like them to be, but he is an athlete and a football player.”

–On drafting for need: “I’ll tell you this, we’re very much aware of needs. Don’t kid yourself. We’re very much aware of needs and through the process of free agency or the draft or trades, we do work hard. Jerry Reese and his staff, Marc Ross and his staff work very hard to make sure that balancing act is accomplished. So we are aware of that. However, the proven route to take philosophically or by virtue of the practical aspect of how the draft eventually ends up is to be in position to take the best available player and then, in the long run, sometimes there’s some impatience involved here, don’t get me wrong, but in the long run that’s the way to go.”

And one loose end from Ross on how Randle being a former quarterback helps him as a receiver: “Yeah, and he plays that way. When they see the field and then they go to another position, they have a great understanding for what’s going on. He fits into that mold.”