We know about the Philadelphia 76ers. We know about the Syracuse Nationals…right? You know, the Sixers were known as this team. The Nationals, or Nats, were in New York. So were the New York Knicks. Oh, and the Sacramento Kings. Ah, but back then, they were the Rochester Royals.
So, we have three teams fighting for New York. For only 8 NBA seasons, these teams shared the state. Eventually, the Royals would leave due to financial struggles. Alright, so let’s look at the matchups between the teams. Our seasons range from 1949-50 through the 1956-57 season, the last we saw of the Royals in New York.
Let’s clear something up: This is NOT a battle for how they dominated the league. This is an examination to how they played against each other. So, it doesn’t matter over season by season records. Just what the records were for head to head matchups. I could always do another post looking at how they faced the NBA as a whole. That’s not today, my friends.
Nationals vs Knicks
So, in those 8 seasons, the teams faced each other 77 times. Uh…the Nats went 42-35 during that time against the Knicks. So…during the regular season, the Nats won more over the Knicks. The Nats had a 5 game winning streak and the Knicks had a couple of streaks of 3 games straight. The Nats were actually 15-19 at one point, as the Knicks had the upper hand for a little while.
Now, while the record of 42-35 is pretty close, there were plenty of blowouts. One win was by 44 points for the Nats. The Knicks did win a game by 35. Just a lot of blowouts, really. Out of the 77 games, 11 of them were determined by at least 20 points, with plenty of other games between 15-19 points. But, in the end, I guess the Nats blew out the Knicks more. So, more wins and more points.
That was regular season. What about playoffs?
The Nats and Knicks played 15 games. I’ll give you a guess as to how the record played out. The Nats went 8-7 because why not have a very close matchup again? Besides a 22 point win for the Nats, the scoring was evenly balanced. Most games were pretty close in the end.
The Nats have one more win of the games. But, what about the series themselves? Um, well, I guess technically there was five series matchups, although one of them was a one game tiebreaker. The Knicks won two and the Nats won 3. Here’s the best part about all of this: The tiebreaker game is the last game the teams played in our timespan. This means, the Nats and Knicks both 7 wins and two series victories. Incredible.
Knicks vs Royals
Okay, so now we’re looking at the Knicks and the Royals. The Royals are funny. They were in New York, but they were in the West while the Nats and Knicks were East. Ah, so the regular season meetings went nicely for the Knicks. They were 32-27 against the Royals. Yes, 59 games.
With all of that said, the Knicks went on an 8 game winning streak and also a 7 game winning streak. Oh, the Royals do have a 4 game winning streak. The fact that it’s only 32-27 is pretty spectacular.
Now, for the playoffs, we see things change. For one thing, the teams only had one playoff series. Yeah…um…just the one. It went to 7 games. And, since this was East vs West, this was a battle for the championship. The Royals won. Um…so yeah.
So, during the regular season, the Knicks did the job. But, in that one meeting in the finals, the Royals won. 7 games means that is probably wasn’t so simple of a series, but boy does this make it interesting to see which team was better. I’ll have to do more digging. Meanwhile, let’s talk about the last matchup.
Nationals vs Royals
The Nationals and Royals have one thing in common: During this time period, they both won a championship. Oh, but let’s talk about the regular season matchups.
So, they played 55 games. The Nationals went 30-25. This was awesome. I mean, the Nats got a 5 game winning streak in there and the Royals got their 4 in a row. The Nats’ largest margin of victory was 29 while the Royals grabbed a 27 point win. There was alson a triple double overtime game. It was a low scoring overtime game. The Nats won 95-93. That’s it. Compared to today, that’s some low scoring.
So, here’s the thing about these teams: They never met in the playoffs. So…yeah. You saw the Knicks met the Royals in the finals. The Nats and Royals never met in the finals so we don’t know who won the playoff battle, here.
The Battle for New York
So, who was the best team in New York in their time? The Nationals won the regular season battles against the Knicks and Royals. The Nats also outplayed the Knicks in the playoffs (but by one game). The Nats never faced the Royals in the playoffs. The Knicks had the better regular season record against the Royals, but the Royals won on the big stage. We have to give them credit for that.
The Nats also won a championship, although it wasn’t against a New York team. So it basically doesn’t count. If I had to rank the teams, I would go with this:
- Nationals
- Royals
- Knicks
Remember, I’m not looking at the team performance against the league. Just against the other NY teams. The Nationals beat everyone they faced. So, while they didn’t see the Royals in the playoffs, it seems like they could’ve handled that. While the Knicks did their thing during the regular season, the championship is bigger than that, so I gave the nod to the Royals.
This really is a close battle.
What do you think? During this time span, who dominated the state of NY?
