The Knicks and Nets are separated by just a few subway stops, but both of their head coaches agree that there is still ground that needs to be made up in order to consider the two city teams as rivals.
Brooklyn head coach Jacque Vaughn noted that the two franchises haven’t played enough “meaningful games” against each other, particularly in recent history, for it to be considered a real rivalry.
“Until you have a generational history of playing each other in those games,” Vaughn said, via Erik Slater. “I don’t think it can be considered one.”
There hasn’t been that level of competition for this generation, as the two teams haven’t played a postseason series against each other since 2004. The two franchises haven’t exactly been simultaneously competitive in recent years either, as New York has struggled to find consistency in recent years while the Nets have been a consistent playoff team since acquiring Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Asked a similar question before Saturday’s meeting in Brooklyn, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau shared a similar sentiment, noting that there probably needs to be a playoff series between the two teams, with these current cores, for the matchup to rise to true rivalry levels.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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