The Knicks and Nets both played on Sunday. Like we’ve seen a lot lately, they each took home yet another W.
Brooklyn’s season-long record improved to 19-12 with its sixth straight win. They remain in fourth place when looking at the Eastern Conference standings, but the Nets are just three games out of first. As for the Knicks, Sunday’s win was their seventh straight, which is the NBA’s longest active streak. New York’s season-long record improved to 17-13, and while they’re sitting at sixth in the East, they’re also only 4.5 games out of first.
When was the last time these two squads went on winning streaks this long at the same time? It’s been a while, folks. So long that it’s been nearly half a century.
This is the first time since 1976-77 — Nets’ first season in NBA — that both the Knicks and Nets have active win streaks of six-plus games at the same time, per ESPN’s @StatsWilliams.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 19, 2022
This isn’t the kind of Woj Bomb we’re used to seeing, but we’ll take it just the same. New York’s win over the Indiana Pacers gave them a clean sweep of their three-game road trip. It included two wins vs. the Chicago Bulls before this most recent one. Jalen Brunson, R.J. Barrett, and Julius Randle combined for 79 points in a 109-106 victory.
As for the Nets, they just swept a four-game road trip. The last two were a pair of three-point victories with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant cooking like we expect them to. After Sunday’s win, they’ve now each scored 35-plus points in the same game three times this year. The last time that happened was in 2011-12 when Durant did it with Russell Westbrook.
These concurrent hot streaks got me thinking… can the Nets and Knicks keep the New York sports vibe going strong this year?
Sure, there have been no championships won since the calendar flipped to 2022, but you can’t tell me it hasn’t been fun to watch New York sports this past year.
Basketball. We just touched upon what the Knicks and Nets are doing right now. The last time they both finished with a winning record was 2020-21. New York was 41-31 and Brooklyn was 48-24. The last time it happened before this occurrence was 2012-13 when the Knicks were 54-28 and the Nets were 49-33.
Baseball. The Mets and Yankees won 101 and 99 regular-season games in 2022, respectively. They also finished with winning records in 2019 and 2016, but this was the first time they both made the playoffs since 2015. The last time they each advanced past the first round of the postseason was in 2000. You know, when they faced off against one another in the World Series.
Football. The Giants are Jets are in similar but different spots with three regular-season games left. Big Blue is 8-5-1 and has possession of the sixth spot in the NFC Playoffs. Gang Green has lost four of five and is on the outside looking in at 7-7. Both NY football teams last made the playoffs at the same time in 2006. The last time each squad finished with a winning record was in 2010 (11-5 for the Jets, 10-6 for the Giants).
Hockey. While the Devils have dominated the NY metro area in the hockey world so far this year, the Rangers and Islanders are still doing their fair share. As of this writing, New Jersey is 21-8-2, the Rangers are 18-10-5 (and have won seven in a row), and the Isles are 18-13-1. In case you’re wondering, the last time all three finished with a winning record was in 2015-16. The Devils were 38-36-8, the Rangers were 46-27-9, and the Islanders were 45-27-10.
It’d be pretty cool if all these local teams finished their respective regular seasons with a winning record. The Knicks and Nets’ historic concurrent winning streaks have them doing their part to keep the dream alive for the moment.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
