Knicks Still Don't Have Real Rivalry With Nets

The little brother almost got one last night. The New York Knicks had beaten the crosstown Nets 13 straight times by a margin of 16 points, including a 54-point romp back in late January, which marked the most lopsided victory in Knicks history, and the three-year anniversary of Nic Claxton saying this.

“Me personally, I’ve never lost to the Knicks since I’ve been in the league,” Claxton told reporters after Brooklyn won their ninth straight against their neighbors on the other side of the East River.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Knicks held off Brooklyn 93-92. Mike Brown's team has a propensity lately to play down to competition early in games. Last night they treated the 48-minute contest like a glorified exhibition. The tanking Nets treated the game like their Super Bowl.

The Knicks Made The Game Closer Than It Should've Been

"I wanted that sh*t so f*ckin bad. Ever since we been here every game's an away game," Josh Minott, who scored 22 points, told YES. Network afterwards. "Tonight was the night to stick it to everybody and show people we got sh*t here. Sea of blue, sea of orange, every game we play sea of the other team."

The two teams are heading in two very different directions. One is jostling for playoff seeding while the other is for draft position. The Knicks are in the homestretch of the regular season hoping for grander things in May and June. Meanwhile, Jordi Fernandez’s team is amid another lost season.

Mar 20, 2026; Brooklyn, New York, USA; New York Knicks forward Og Anunoby (8) pushes Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton (33) during the second half at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

It's no surprise that the Nets haven’t won a game against the Knicks since Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were still in town. Brooklyn vs. Manhattan should mean something, however, the matchup has never meant anything because the teams have never been good at the same time.

The two teams have shared the Atlantic Division for 50 years, but from the Turnpike days to Brooklyn, the rivalry is nothing more than a New York/New Jersey thing. The Nets moved to Barclays Center, just 5.3 miles away from Madison Square Garden, in 2012, but the Knicks run the city no matter how good or bad they are doing.

The two have matched in the playoffs just three times - 1983, 1994 and 2004. They have never played one another in a Conference Finals and neither has won a championship since the 70's. The Knicks lead the head-to-head series 115-107.

The Knicks And Net's Aren't Quite Inner City Rivals

Brooklyn’s entire fanbase was raising banners because they won the "beat the Knicks to sign Durant and Irving in free-agency" trophy in 2019. Durant and Irving were believed to have picked the Nets over the Knicks because they perceived Brooklyn as a soft landing spot and a franchise willing to bend to their will far more than James Dolan's team.

The Knicks have walloped the Nets over the last three years, and the Nets whooped the Knicks before that. The Battle of the Boroughs hasn't been a battle for quite some time now. One day we'll maybe get a real rivalry.

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