2009-10: New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets
Wait, what’s this section doing here? We shouldn’t be referencing the B.C. (before Carmelo) era Knicks-Nets in these A.D (Anno Deron) times. But even though Brook Lopez is the only player on either roster that remains for Borough Ball 2013, we have to go back to the dark ages of 2009-10 to find a time when both teams were this bad. The Nets started that e season out on a record setting 0-18 streak, finishing up at 12-70. The Knicks had a poor 29-53 season and missed the playoffs for the sixth straight season.
In terms of the four Nets-Knicks matchups that year, nothing memorable happened, as expected. The teams first met in November, when the 0-12 Nets met the 2-9 Knicks at the IZOD Center. Rafer Alston started at point gaurd, Chris Douglas-Roberts led all scorers with 24 points and the Knicks won 98-91. It would be the closest contested of the four Hudson River rivalry games that year, which ended up being split 2-2. It was also the last Knicks-Nets game as New Jersey Nets head coach for recently re-assigned Brooklyn Nets assistant Lawrence Frank, as he was fired after an 0-16 start.
If finding a logical connection between Thursday’s Battle of the Boroughs and a November 2009 game at the IZOD center — one in which Trenton Hassell played 36 minutes — doesn’t tell you how dreadful the season has been thus far, I don’t know what will.
Full List:
November 26, 2012: Nets 96, Knicks 92
December 11, 2012: Knicks 100, Nets 97
December 19, 2012: Knicks 100, Nets 86
January 21, 2012: Nets 88, Knicks 85
KG, Pierce, & The Knicks: A Brief History
2009-2010: The Last Time It Was This Bad
