Good luck billing this as a rivalry. For the eleventh straight time, the Knicks dragged their little-brother neighbors to the woodshed.
They walked into Sunday’s borough-to-borough matchup with a top-five NBA offense and a three-game residence profitable streak — and walked out with yet one more rout over a Nets group that entered the evening with eight instances as many losses as wins.
The outcome? As anticipated: A powerful 134-98 victory at Madison Sq. Backyard — and one other 40-point quarter, their league-leading sixth this season.
5 miles separate The Backyard from Barclays Heart. On the ground, the hole couldn’t be wider. This rivalry, as soon as buzzing with potential, has flatlined — buried beneath Brooklyn’s failed superteam experiment and the Knicks’ regular rise right into a contender.
At this level, the 2 groups solely share a training tree: Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez credit Mike Brown for locating him in Spain and giving him his first large break as an affiliate as Brown was head coach in Sacramento.
Nevertheless it was solely three years in the past that “Broooooklyn!” chants echoed by way of The Backyard. Solely three years in the past that the Nets regarded just like the NBA’s subsequent dynasty — armed with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden.
That dream lasted about 16 video games.
Then Irving’s foot landed on Giannis’ within the playoffs. Harden’s hamstring gave out. And Durant’s toe grazed the three-point line in a Recreation 7 that modified every little thing. Irving refused to get vaccinated. Harden pressured his strategy to Philadelphia, and the Nets took Ben Simmons again within the deal.
Case closed. Window, too.
These days really feel like a distant previous. Now it’s the Knicks residing the dream — minus the chaos. These Knicks are what the Nets by no means turned: cohesive, aggressive, and constructed to final. Their greatest points are on the courtroom, not in tabloids. And whereas they work by way of Mike Brown’s uptempo system, there’s a transparent route.
As for the Nets? That is Michael Porter Jr.’s group now — and everybody else is simply renting minutes.
Porter, acquired within the Cam Johnson commerce, is the hero Brooklyn deserves after punting on Durant, Irving, Harden, Simmons, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. The previous Nuggets ahead was the one participant at MSG with a greener gentle than Knicks sixth man Jordan Clarkson.
Round him? A solid constructed for the lengthy sport — or moderately, the 2026 draft. Final yr’s 26 wins had been 25 too many, and Fernandez is such a pointy coach, the Nets needed to give him the dullest potential roster.
Which brings us again to Sunday’s blowout and the truth of a useless rivalry between two groups separated by three bridges and a world of distinction.
The Knicks are actually 112–107 all-time in opposition to the Nets, together with a 27–25 edge since Brooklyn’s transfer from Jersey. The final time the Nets beat the Knicks? Durant and Simmons sat. Irving dropped 32 factors and 9 assists in a win over Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle.
Now, it’s the Knicks who’ve all of the star energy.
They poached Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn, landed OG Anunoby in a take care of Toronto, and swung a blockbuster commerce for Karl-Anthony Cities out of Minnesota.
Jalen Brunson has ascended into full-blown celebrity standing — the undisputed 1A at Madison Sq. Backyard — and the Knicks are on observe for his or her third straight 50-win season.
In fact, regular-season wins now matter way more to a Nets group making an attempt to keep away from them, than a Knicks group centered on peaking in April and enjoying into June.
Brooklyn may discover itself again within the combine — finally. A minimum of that’s the glass half full talking.
This season, they’re all-in on the lottery, hoping to land the No. 1 total choose, doubtlessly BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, a franchise-altering prospect.
And it possible received’t cease there. The Rockets maintain swap rights on Brooklyn’s 2027 first-rounder, however the Nets management their very own choose in 2028. It may very well be one other likelihood at a high prospect if the Draft Lottery balls don’t fall their manner subsequent summer time.
Or possibly the Nets swing large once more. Sean Marks has lengthy been drawn to stars with one thing to show, and the NBA panorama shifts by the hour.
Nobody noticed the Luka Doncic commerce coming. Cities to New York caught loads off guard.
With draft capital and movable contracts in hand, who’s to say the Nets received’t chase a participant like Ja Morant if he hits the market? And if the Nets are capable of attempt their hand at one other star, who’s to say this time they don’t get it proper?
A real headliner calling Barclays Heart residence — that could be the one factor able to respiration life again into this cross-bridge rivalry.
Simply don’t rely on it occurring anytime quickly. New York Metropolis has all the time been a Knicks metropolis, however as soon as upon a time, the Nets made it aggressive.
They’ve been something however to start out the yr, as is the state of the good-old Knicks-Nets rivalry
A minimum of Brooklyn’s acquired that good previous tradition. Not that it’s achieved a lot for the win-loss column.
