#6) 2002, 2003: The Nets Reach Consecutive NBA Finals
Okay, so technically, this might be on a short list of top New Jersey sports moment of the decade, but since they play walking distance from the Giants and Jets, NYSD covers them, and since they’re really considered part of New York City area sports, we’ll include the Nets (the same goes for the next team on the list). Though they had a pair of ABA championships in the mid-1970’s, the Nets hadn’t played for an NBA title since joining that league in 1976. The Nets mostly struggled through a lot of losing seasons and were one of the NBA’s “forgotten franchises” until the Jason Kidd era (2001-04) finally put them back on the map (although, they have returned now, of course, to a league laughing stock at 2-29), the Nets won three straight division titles in 2002-04 (to this date, they still have just one other in their history, in 2006), and captured the only conference titles in their history, in consecutive years (2002-03). Though the Nets were swept in the 2002 NBA Finals by the Lakers and lost to the Spurs in six games the NBA Finals the following year, for two seasons, the Nets finally mattered, both in New York, and on a national level in the NBA.