A season ago, the New York Knicks were slumping in January when they cruised to a 54-point home win over the Brooklyn Nets.
That decisive victory helped them get rolling again on the way to their first championship since 1973.
New York is off to a slow start in the first six games of its title defense and hopes to get rolling when it hosts the scuffling Nets on Monday night.
The Knicks are seeking their 15th straight victory over their neighbors. New York has not lost to the Nets since Jan. 28, 2023, shortly before superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were traded.
When the Knicks shot 57.5% in their 120-66 rout of Brooklyn on Jan. 21, it started an eight-game winning streak that followed a run of nine losses in 11 games after winning the NBA Cup.
The current New Yorkers have dropped four of six. They lost their first three games to Philadelphia, Boston and Orlando by a combined 19 points before earning wins over Detroit and Chicago on a back-to-back.
New York was unable to get to the .500 mark when it absorbed a 98-93 loss at Philadelphia on Friday night. The Knicks shot 40.7% as Jalen Brunson scored 24 points, but misfired on 14-of-22 shots after a 38-point showing in Chicago two nights earlier.
“You’re starting all over,” Knicks coach Mike Brown told reporters after practice Sunday. “It’s like climbing a mountain. We’re climbing a mountain as a team and we conquer the mountain, then you gotta come back down, take some time off, then you gotta climb another mountain. It’s the same thing.
“And when you climb that mountain the second time, you’re starting from base camp again. And if you skip steps doing that, you’re going to die. It’s not that tragic for us. When you’re sitting at 2-4, people equate it to that sometimes, but it’s the same thing, taking each step the right way and embracing it and trying to get a little better.”
Brooklyn’s last win against the Knicks was so long ago that Julius Randle was enjoying a Madison Square Garden residency. Randle was acquired to help the Nets show some improvement after struggling for the previous two seasons, but his new team has lost five of six to start coach Jordi Fernandez’s third season.
Brooklyn dropped its first five games but bounced back from an ugly effort in Friday’s 110-94 home loss to the Detroit Pistons when Michael Porter Jr. scored 23 points, Randle contributed 20 and Day’Ron Sharpe totaled 15 points and 13 rebounds in Sunday’s 98-90 win at Indiana.
Randle is averaging 21 points with the Nets and has made 7-of-15 3-point tries in the past two games.
Randle helped the Nets turn in a defensive showing that allowed its fewest points all season and permitted 40% shooting.
Brooklyn’s best defensive showing occurred while the group shot 41.1% from the field, marking the fourth game the Nets did not reach 45% plateau.
“We need to get a win,” Brooklyn guard Nolan Traore said about facing the Knicks. “I think it’s been a long time since we’ve won against the Knicks, so we got to do it.”
Brooklyn started Traore in the backcourt for the third straight game, and he scored 16 points to reach double digits for the third time in four games.
The Nets held out rookie Mikel Brown Jr. on the first night of a back-to-back set, but the guard is expected to play Monday. Brown has not played more than 27:43 in any of his four games and is shooting 27.3 (12-of-44) so far.
