The question of what constitutes a rivalry was a popular topic Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn. It cropped up because for one of the few times since the Nets and Knicks began plying their trades within the confines of New York’s five boroughs, both teams hold winning records.

Since the Nets moved to Brooklyn for the 2012-13 season, the teams produced winning records in the same season twice and it occurred nine seasons apart.

In 2012-13, the Knicks won their first division title since 1994 (double check) and 54 games while the Nets recovered from a slow start and won 49 games before bowing out in Game 7 against Tom Thibodeau’s Chicago Bulls, resulting in a trade of multiple draft picks to the Celtics to acquire an aging Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

Two seasons ago, the Nets formed their Big Three of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden and won 48 times during a 72-game season. At the same time, the Knicks surged late and won 41 times thanks to a career season by Julius Randle.

After both teams slogged through disappointing seasons, they exited their second meeting with winning records but is it a rivalry if one team dominates the other? Brooklyn’s 122-115 win where it led for the final 46:53 after the Knicks scored the game’s first point, marked its ninth straight in the series

“If the NBA calls it rivalry week, then it's a rivalry," Irving said after scoring 21 of his 32 in the fourth quarter of a nationally televised game as part of ABC’’s tripleheader.

"For me, I love beating the Knicks and playing against them, but all in all, it's just about the objective and that's to win the ballgame," Irving said. "Nothing personal."

Only it may not be as simple in the minds of Thibodeau and Jacque Vaughn. Thibodeau had front row seats as an assistant with the 1990s Knicks when they faced the Miami Heat in the 1997, 1998,1999 and 2000 postseasons in series that presented the physical nature of a rivalry defined.

“I think from a proximity standpoint, you can say that,” Thibodeau said when posed the question of the rivalry in between numerous questions about owner James Dolan’s recent media tour. were rivals. “Probably (it will take) a playoff series, something like that. Usually, you need both teams to be really good. And hopefully, we can get there.”

“Now, see, I can remember that as a kid. That’s a rivalry that’s generational,” Vaughn said. “I grew up Sundays going to church, couldn’t wait to get back home to see the Lakers play Boston. That’s a rivalry that I remember to this day, that still exists. There’s history.”

As for a playoff series, it is not quite ready to be discussed since the latest inability to beat the Nets left the Knicks in seventh and 1 1/2 games behind Miami. So, any talk about the teams playing their first series since the 2004 Nets swept the 39-win Knicks in the first round will cool down at least until it becomes a possibility.

“So, I think overall, being able to enjoy the competition,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn, who noted before the game he felt Celtics-Lakers were more of a rivalry due to their 12 meetings in the NBA finals. “I think it’s pretty cool. I think you got a little bragging rights between the two teams and good competition.”

As for what may be a rivalry, Islanders-Rangers is considered a rivalry by networks but with the playoff criteria coming into play, maybe it is not since the last playoff series was a dominant first-round sweep by the Rangers en route to their 1994 Stanley Cup.

Even with other cities it is hard to define a rivalry based on the playoff series criteria.

While the Nets have faced the Celtics in each of the past two postseasons and are struggling to beat them lately, the Knicks last faced them in a postseason series in the first round in 1990.

Same thing with the Knicks and Philadelphia. The Nets have plenty to be rivals about with Philadelphia since they lost to them in five in the first round before signing Durant and Irving in 2019 but the Knicks last faced the Sixers in a three-game sweep of the 1989 first-round before their first of five postseason losses to the Jordan-era Chicago Bulls.

Perhaps a rivalry is more of a baseball thing given there are 162 games and teams like the Yankees and Red Sox faced off 19 times in every season except 2020 from 2001 through last year.

Since the Knicks and Nets began occupying the same city, 41 of their 219 regular-season meetings have been played within the city limits.

Since that time, the following coaches have given their view on the topic: Avery Johnson, P.J. Carlesimo, Jason Kidd, Lionel Hollins, Tony Brown, Kenny Atkinson, Steve Nash and Vaughn for the Nets along with Mike Woodson, Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis, Jeff Hornacek, David Fizdale, Mike Miller and Thibodeau.

None have responded to those queries in a postseason series, continuing the debate of

“Yeah, I lean more in that direction of [it is needing] meaningful games,” Vaughn said. “We need to grow more and have some more meaningful games before it gets to that level.”