Nets still with more playoff success this millennium than Knicks

 The New York Knicks have not made the Eastern Conference Finals since the 1999-2000 season when they reached the NBA finals and lost in five games to the San Antonio Spurs.

The better part of the first two decades of this millennium was littered with four seasons and playoff less campaigns for the Knicks. 

Meanwhile, the Nets went to back-to-back NBA finals in 2002 and 2003. They made the playoffs every year from 2002 to 2007.

The then New Jersey Nets had some lean years in their final seasons at the IZOD Center at the Meadowlands and the two-year interim stop the Prudential Center in Newark. 

Upon the Nets moved to Brooklyn, they made the playoffs for three consecutive years,  followed by a rebuild and three-year dry spell.

The Nets enjoyed a great run of five consecutive playoff berths that was snapped this year. 

The Nets may not have enjoyed much playoff success, in fact, only two series wins since moving to Brooklyn. 

But since 2001, the Nets have won 11 series and made 14 playoff appearances.h

Across the river, the Knicks have had seven playoff seasons and won three playoff series. You be the judge of which franchise has been more successful this millennium. 

Read More

Injury riddled Knicks might face same fate as banged up 2020-21 Nets

 

Injuries stink. They're also part of the game. The New York Knicks have tried to grind and battle their way through a whole host of injuries. 

Between Julius Randle announcing before the playoffs he was lost for the year, Bojan Bogdanović shutting it down after the first round series win over Philly, Mitchell Robinson going on the shelf after Game 1 against the Pacers, and OG Anunoby's hamstring injury in Game 2 of the semi-finals series, it's been almost too much to take for Knicks fans. 

Now, the team's emotional leader, Josh Hart, suffered a strained abdominal muscle on his left side. Hart tried to exit and re-enter two separate times during Friday night's Game 6, but he was unable to continue. 

His status for Game 7 is uncertain. Even if Hart gives it a go, he'll likely be compromised and not the same hustle player fans have seen this entire tenure as a Knick. 

So now the Knicks are staring at a Game 7 at home leaning heavily on their leader, Jalen Brunson, to take them to the finish line.  A berth in the Eastern Conference Finals is at stake. 

Where have we seen this storyline before?

Look no further back than the 2021 playoffs, when the Nets watched injury after injury decimate their team, leaving Kevin Durant on an island to try to play hero. 

Kyrie Irving, James Harden, LaMarcus Aldridge and others were banged up or lost for the playoffs, with the Nets losing an epic Game 7 at home to the eventual champion Bucks. 

Just like Durant before him, Brunson may be heroic, but the odds are stacked against the Knicks just like they were the Nets only three short years ago. 

The Knicks are hoping to avoid the same fate the Nets faced, a heartbreaking loss on their home court to end the season and a hopeful playoff run cut tragically short. 

Read More

Knicks on verge of something Nets' Big three never achieved

 

The New York Knicks defeated the Indiana Pacers 121-91 to take a 3-2 edge in the Eastern Conference semi-finals on Tuesday night. 

The series will turn back to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana for Game 6 with the Knicks looking to close it out. 

The Knicks have not been to the Eastern Conference Finals since 1999.

 In that lockout shortened 50 game regular season, the Knicks advanced as the number 8th seed all the way to the NBA finals.  

They eventually fell in five games to the San Antonio Spurs. 

That feels like a lifetime ago, but the Nets best chance at a championship feels like yesterday. 

Even with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets never even reached an Eastern Conference Finals. 

In fact, the last time the Nets were in the Eastern Conference Finals was in 2003 when they were making their second of consecutive runs to the NBA Finals.

Not since the team relocated to Brooklyn to start the 2012-13 season have the Nets advanced past the second round of the playoffs.

Meanwhile, a Knicks squad without Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Bojan Bogdanovic is doing something that a super team in Brooklyn could not achieve. 

It goes to show that togetherness, grit and hustle go just as far, if not farther than talent.

Durant, Harden and Irving had plenty of talent, but were sorely lacking in the intangible area of leadership. 

Barclays Center is early quiet while Madison Square Garden rocking between the Knicks and Rangers playoff runs this spring.

The Nets better regroup in short order because this Knicks core isn't going anywhere anytime soon. 

Read More

With Nets floundering in Brooklyn, move back to NJ not crazy after all

 

The Nets have played in eight different arenas since the franchise's inception in 1967. That's an average of a new home every seven years. So by that math, the Nets are overdue for a change in city and venue.

Brooklyn lost for its 16th time in its last 20 games and suffered yet another late game collapse on Tuesday to the Knicks. The Nets forfeited double digit leads and eventually lost to Portland, Miami, Los Angeles Clippers and Knicks over the last ten days.

The Nets were in the driver's seat against the Knicks but fell apart down the stretch with questionable lineup decisions, shoddy shot selection and just overall poor basketball.

Knicks fans took over Barclays Center in full force and have now won four in a row in the area rivalry. Mikal Bridges, who scored 36, was booed on his home floor for missing a late free throw. 

So with a Knicks takeover in Brooklyn, a max exodus of stars over the past few years, a billionaire owner in Joe Tsai, who lost a chunk of his large fortune with Alibaba stock plummeting, is a return to the Garden State possible?

Call me crazy, but it's not as farfetched as it once was. The Nets have now been in Brooklyn for almost 12 years. Two failed superstar eras later that produced just two playoff round wins, zero divisional titles or banners, it's clear success hasn't exactly been aplenty in the borough.

In 35 years in New Jersey, the Nets won six division banners, two Eastern Conference Championships and hosted five games at the Meadowlands.

Yes, the Nets played in a half empty building with a 50/50 split of opposing fans and the home crowd. But with revamped transportation hub in the Meadowlands serving MetLife Stadium, the infrastructure is in place to create a convenient situation for basketball fans looking to attend games in New Jersey.

Things would have to completely spiral out of control on the basketball side and financial hardship would need to be so extreme that it would force Tsai to sell both the team and arena, both of which he owns outright. 

The reality is, the Nets have seen some dark times in Brooklyn and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight to the suffering this season.

As the Nets aim to be a big market team and take local and national attention away from the crosstown Knicks, 12 years since their move to Brooklyn, it appears they're further than ever from taking the city by storm.

The Knicks historically have always been the biggest show in town and while the Nets tried to make headway and steal the limelight in recent years, so far they have failed to do so.

Who knows what the future holds for the nomadic Nets, but things will need to brighten up in Brooklyn quickly, otherwise cries for another relocation may get louder by the day. 

Read More