History of the Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets, a professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, was founded in 1967 and initially played in Teaneck, New Jersey, as the New Jersey Americans, later the New Jersey Nets. They are a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as an original member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). In 2012 they moved to Brooklyn and were renamed the Brooklyn Nets.
Knicks–Nets rivalry
The rivalry began in 1976 when the Nets joined the NBA as part of the ABA–NBA merger. At the time, the team was known as the New York Nets and played at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in suburban Long Island. The team became the New Jersey Nets the following season when they relocated to suburban New Jersey, playing temporarily in Piscataway before moving to Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford in 1981, their home until 2010. The Nets played their final two seasons in New Jersey at Prudential Center in downtown Newark. The rivalry became an intra-city series when the Nets relocated to Brooklyn in 2012.