Nic Claxton and his Brooklyn Nets suffered an embarrassing 134-98 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Losing to the Knicks has become a regular occurrence for Claxton at this point, as he has now lost nine games in a row to them.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, this losing streak began after Claxton bragged about never losing to the Knicks following a 122-115 win for the Nets on Jan. 28, 2023. Here is what he had to say in his press conference.
“I’ve never lost to the Knicks since I’ve been in the league, I don’t think so,” Claxton said. “It’s always fun playing against them.”
Nic Claxton “Me Personally I’ve Never Lost to The Knicks Since I’ve been in the League #NetsWorld pic.twitter.com/4UUVmbLpkM
— NetsKingdom 👑🗽 (@NetsKingdomAJ) January 29, 2023
Well, this sure has aged like milk. Claxton actually wasn’t on point there either, as the Nets had lost 110-97 in his first-ever game against the Knicks on Jan. 26, 2020. He and they won six in a row after that, but have had no success since then.
The Nets have actually lost 11 in a row now to the Knicks, but Claxton missed two of the games. Here’s what the scores have been in the nine that he played in.
Feb. 13, 2023: Brooklyn Nets 106-124 New York Knicks
March 1, 2023: Brooklyn Nets 118-142 New York Knicks
Dec. 20, 2023: Brooklyn Nets 102-121 New York Knicks
Jan. 23, 2024: Brooklyn Nets 103-108 New York Knicks
March 23, 2024: Brooklyn Nets 93-105 New York Knicks
April 12, 2024: Brooklyn Nets 107-111 New York Knicks
Jan. 21, 2025: Brooklyn Nets 95-99 New York Knicks
April 13, 2025: Brooklyn Nets 105-113 New York Knicks
Nov. 9, 2025: Brooklyn Nets 98-134 New York Knicks
Claxton has averaged 8.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game in this stretch. The 26-year-old has somewhat surprisingly failed to record even one double-double in any of these losses.
Claxton had 12 points (3-4 FG), five rebounds, five assists, and two blocks in this latest blowout loss. You’d notice that four of these were blowouts, but none were as bad as this latest one. It signals the gulf in class between these teams now.
The Knicks improved to 6-3 with this win while the Nets dropped to 1-9. They are tied for the worst record in the NBA this season and are likely to finish at or near the bottom of the pile.
Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez had called out his players for not playing hard after a blowout loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 2. The loss dropped them to 0-6, and they have at least managed to win a game since. They’re unlikely to win too many more soon, though, especially with Cam Thomas being sidelined by a left hamstring strain.
The Nets are in action next against the Toronto Raptors at Barclays Center on Tuesday at 7:30 PM ET. The Raptors just saw their four-game winning streak snapped by the 76ers on Saturday, and you’d fancy their chances of getting back to winning ways.
