Jason Kidd on Nets and Knicks: 'It's the Rivalry and Both Teams Stink'

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd didn’t sugarcoat his answer when asked about the upcoming matchup with the rival New York Knicks, which will be televised Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on TNT.

“It’s the rivalry and both teams stink,” Kidd said, per ESPN New York’s Mike Mazzeo.

The Nets and Knicks have combined for an abysmal 8-26 record through the first month of the season (3-13 for the Knicks, 5-13 for the Nets). Both teams are occupying the cellar of an uninspired Eastern Conference, and the loser of Thursday’s contest will continue that downward spiral.

Kidd addressed what the Nets need to do to turn things around:

"

The one thing is we have to find a way to get better. It starts tomorrow for us. We have to find some answers as to why we go our separate ways instead of staying as a team. So we’ll figure that out, and again, we have to find a way to protect home.

"

This intriguing matchup between two reeling squads will come just days after Kidd reassigned assistant coach Lawrence Frank to a reduced role of “doing daily reports,” according to Ohm Youngmisuk and Marc Stein of ESPN.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Knicks are losers of nine in a row and have been worse at home (1-7) than they have been on the road (2-6).

J.R. Smith has struggled mightily, and the Knicks offense as a whole ranks 26th in the league by scoring just 92.8 points per contest.

Prior to the season this head-to-head matchup was thought to feature two Eastern Conference juggernauts. Instead, we’re left wondering which team will fall deeper into oblivion.

Or as Kidd says, which team "stinks" more.