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It wasn’t just another night. It wasn’t just another game.
It was a chance to earn respect, to seize momentum, to build confidence. It was as close to a title fight as the Nets may find for some time. They would travel roughly 5 miles to take on the reigning champs, facing the team whose stranglehold on their shared city has never been stronger and whose dominance in an uninspired rivalry has been a constant reminder of the chasm between the boroughs.
“We need to get a win,” Nets guard Nolan Traore said before Monday’s game at Madison Square Garden. “It’s been a long time since we’ve won against the Knicks, so we’ve got to do it.”
Incredibly, they almost did.
Coming off their first win of the season the previous night in Indiana, the Nets looked unrecognizable from the punching bag that lost a pair of games at the Garden last season by a combined 90 points. For so much of Monday’s matchup, there was no discernible difference between one of the most celebrated champions in New York history and the team that spent the past two years chasing ping-pong balls.
Michael Porter Jr. had 18 points, making four 3-pointers. Traore put up 17 points on eight shots, adding a chase-down block of Jalen Brunson.
And the Nets led by four early in the fourth quarter.
Then came the anvil — in the form of the Knicks’ 16-2 fourth-quarter run — that had been hanging from the pinwheel ceiling, crushing the coyote who somehow didn’t see it coming again.
The Nets (1-6) made only three of 16 shots while scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter of their 103-90 loss, setting a season-low scoring mark while clinching a record-extending 15th straight loss in their 50-year series with the Knicks.
“We played a championship team, and we competed,” Nets head coach Jordi Fernández said. “I’m not happy with the loss, but [with] how we started the season, these last two [games] there’s improvement on how hard we’ve played and how competitive we’ve been. So, next time we come here, my expectation is to be better as a group.
“I’m proud of the group because they played hard. … If we keep playing as hard as we played in the last two games, there’s going to be a lot of good things and a lot of growth.”
The Nets’ most recent win in the series came Jan. 28, 2023.
Shortly before Brooklyn broke up the superteam led by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Nets secured their ninth straight win over the Knicks — who were searching for their first playoff series win in a decade.
Day’Ron Sharpe was there. So were Brunson and Deuce McBride, as well as Julius Randle, then with the Knicks.
No other current player on either team was there. No one else could speak to the brief window when the Nets were the measuring stick, the team with its eye on the title.
It was less than four years ago. It feels closer to 40.
