Latvia (Kristaps Porzingis) defeated Lithuania (Mindaugas Kuzminskas) in the Battle of the Braliukas

While the United States continues to wrestle with maniacs trying to re-fight the Civil War, the Baltic states were getting ready to fight their own brother’s war. That’s right, folks: Latvia vs. Lithuania, the world’s greatest rivalry. The two men’s basketball teams did battle Saturday night in the Latvian capital of Riga. For a pair of New York Knicks, Kristaps Porzingis and Mindaugas Kuzminskas, the game was even more personal.

“Braliukas” is slang for “speakers of the Baltic languages.” The more you know....

Latvia took full advantage of a raucous Rigan crowd, besting a more highly-rated Lithuanian squad by the score of 87-77. Porzingis didn’t have his best game, but still managed to drop 16 points and 10 rebounds, including a pretty sweet crossover/lefty skyhook combo.

Our boy Cheese dropped 14 points for Team Lithuania, doing some nice work in the post, and flat-out embarrassing his braliukas brother Kristaps at one point with a blow-by and dunk.

But perhaps the MVP of the game was non-braliukas Knick Willy Hernangomez, who appeared to troll his bro Kristaps by posting the Cheese dunk on Instagram.

No friendship, indeed.