As an ABA franchise, the Nets have won two championships thanks to the heroics of Hall of Famer Julius Irving.
However, since becoming an NBA team in 1976, the Nets have zero titles.
Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie and DeAndre Jordan will look to lead the Brooklyn Nets to the championship whenever the 2020-21 season starts. The Nets have a good shot of winning their first NBA title once Durant and Irving take the floor together.
The only Nets team which has come close to winning an NBA championship was the 2002-03 New Jersey Nets squad led by Jason Kidd, Kerry Kittles, Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin. The team was coached by Byron Scott and coming off an embarrassing 2002 Finals which saw the club get swept by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kidd and Co. were motivated to get back to the Finals and redeem themselves.
The Nets started the 2002-03 season 13-7. They did most of their damage on defense. New Jersey gave up only 90.1 points per game. That was good for second in the NBA. Offensively, the Nets put up 95.4 points with Kidd at the controls. That ranked 14th in the league.
Kidd played in 80 regular-season games this campaign. The Hall of Famer averaged 18.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists. Martin was the second-leading scorer on the Nets. The former No. 1 overall pick put up 16.7 points along with 8.3 boards.
Kittles and Jefferson were the perfect wing players to run alongside Kidd on the fastbreak. Jefferson was a high-flyer who could slash with the best of them, while Kittles was a sound shooter from beyond the arc. He shot 35.6 percent from the 3-point line.
The Nets finished with 49 wins and 33 losses. Kidd led the league in assists per game and New Jersey was the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Detroit Pistons were the first seed. They racked up a record of 50-32.
New Jersey's first-round matchup of the 2003 playoffs was the Milwaukee Bucks. Behind averages of 22.3 points and 10.0 rebounds from Martin, the Nets won the series in six games despite losing Game 2 at home. Kidd was spectacular as well. He registered averages of 18.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 9.2 assists.
Next up for the Nets was the Boston Celtics in the second round. Boston was led in scoring by Paul Pierce. The Truth had a great series against New Jersey, but once again, Martin was just too much of a monster in the paint. He averaged 20.5 points and 8.3 rebounds, leading the Nets to a four-game sweep over the Celtics.
The 2003 Eastern Conference Finals was the matchup everyone wanted to see. It was the Pistons taking on the Nets, the two teams with the best records in the East during the regular season. Pundits thought this series was going to be an epic seven-game series, but the Nets had other ideas.
Kidd averaged 23.8 points and 10.0 assists against Chauncey Billups and the Pistons in the Conference Finals. The Nets swept the Pistons and were headed back to the Finals.
What New Jersey had just done was historic. Not many teams can say they swept the Celtics and Pistons in back to back playoff rounds. Boston and Detroit are two of the hallmark organizations we have in the NBA.
The 2003 Finals wasn't the Nets vs. the Lakers. This time, Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs stood in Kidd's way of his first NBA title. Duncan won the regular-season MVP award and was on a hot streak heading into the Finals.
The Spurs had home-court advantage in the series and easily won Game 1 by a final score of 101-89. Duncan led the way with 32 points and 20 rebounds. Kidd and the Nets were now 0-5 in their last five Finals game.
That losing streak, though, was finally broken in Game 2. Kidd poured in 30 points and New Jersey stole home-court advantage by shocking the Spurs, 87-85. The free-throws from Kidd at the end of the game with 8.1 seconds left in regulation sealed the win, as Spurs forward Stephen Jackson missed the game-winning 3 at the buzzer.
So now the Nets had a golden opportunity to go up 3-1. All they had to do was protect home-court.
However, that's easier said than done against Duncan, Gregg Popovich and the machine that is known as the Spurs.
San Antonio won Game 3 to reclaim home-court advantage. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 26 points, while Duncan had 21 points and 16 rebounds.
The Nets bounced back in Game 4 to even up the series at two games apiece. Game 4, though, wound up being the last win for this New Jersey team.
The Spurs won Games 5 and 6 to wrap up the series. Duncan won Finals MVP.
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