David Stern is in his final full year as commissioner of the NBA.
David Stern couldn’t wait to start packing a suitcase when he left his press conference last week, the one where he announced he’ll be stepping down as commissioner on Feb. 1, 2014.

“First I’m going to Miami, then I’ll be going to Brooklyn for the opener, then I’ll be at the Garden for the Knicks’ home opener, and then I’ll be going down to Memphis,’’ he said walking out of a 20th floor conference room in the St. Regis Hotel. “It’s a great way to start the season. I’m looking forward to all the stops.’’

But after Hurricane Sandy obliterated the New York area, affecting millions, Stern finally had to change his itinerary, along with the NBA schedule.

Stern doesn’t normally take orders. But when Mayor Bloomberg called Wednesday to say he thought that the league should postpone Brooklyn’s big night and the season-opener between the Nets and Knicks, the commissioner did the right thing.

The NBA didn’t object. Everyone knows it had to be done.

As of Wednesday morning, it bordered on incredible that the NBA was still willing to give the Nets what they had lusted for long before the schedule came out. It’s as if Stern was sitting out in Omaha, oblivious to what Sandy had done right below his nose.

Before the games were set, New York’s new team pushed hard for an opening-night extravaganza in its new home. And it targeted one team, and only one team, to have to come to Brooklyn.

For so long the No. 2 NBA franchise around here, and deservedly so, the Nets wanted to show everyone what they have in store for the Knicks, for years to come. An arena full of Brooklyn fans - real, live Nets fans - hating on James Dolan’s team.

There will be plenty of time for that. As for now, there are a lot of more important things going on in Brooklyn and other parts of the city than worrying about whether 16,000 basketball fans can make it safely to an NBA game, when just getting down the street these days takes an Herculean effort.

When it comes to promoting their new digs, Bruce Ratner and everyone else associated with the Nets have trumpeted the same sensible advice from the get-go: Don’t drive. Take the subway. After what Sandy did, it’s become, what subway? Thankfully, no one is going to have to figure out a way to get to a place no one wants to take his car to.

The Knicks get a bigger break here than the fans because they were no more ready to play a game that counts in the standings than Amar’e Stoudemire.

Don’t believe a word that Mike Woodson told you about his team’s preseason.  It was a disaster for the Knicks.

Woodson has a new starting backcourt that played all of one exhibition game together.  He never was able to get his starting five on the court for even a minute, in any of the six tune-ups. The Knicks aren’t just the oldest team in the NBA now. They’re already looking like one of the most brittle and they haven’t played a game.

Woodson saw Marcus Camby go down to a leg injury in the fourth practice of training camp, which was a turn-back-the-clock moment for Knick fans who remember Camby’s first, injury-plagued go-round in the Garden. He saw Tyson Chandler, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and his anchor on the back line, hobbled by a knee injury.

Then came Stoudemire’s latest physical setback.

Don’t the Knicks wish they still had that amnesty chip in their back pocket to make their starting forward disappear. But there will be no getting out from under his $100-million deal, with three more seasons to run, as he continues to break down at the ripe, old age of 29. He turns 30 in 15 days and already has had more injuries in his career than most players.

Woodson now has to play the first six weeks, if not longer, without Stoudemire, the only other player defenses really have to pay attention to, after Carmelo Anthony. He has to hope this undersized team, always vulnerable on its defensive glass, has achieved some sort of chemistry, although usually it takes more than talking about it to make that so.

By not having to play Thursday, the Knicks came out looking like winners, fleeting as it will be.

LeBron James and Miami arrive in the Garden Friday and there are no more hurricanes in the forecast to save Woodson’s team.



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