NBA

Nets believe they’re better than Bulls, now they have to prove it

CHICAGO — I asked Brook Lopez if he was looking forward to Game 7 in Brooklyn. He didn’t go for the bait.

“We’re not focusing on Game 7 at all,” he said yesterday. “We’re focused on Game 6.”

I asked Joe Johnson the same question. He swatted it back like a Nate Robinson layup.

“I’m looking forward to Game 6,” he said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself.”

There goes the “See You in Brooklyn” headline. Still, it’s interesting the Nets, who trail 3-2 in their best-of-seven series with the Bulls, won’t predict there will be a Game 7 Saturday night at Barclays Center. But they’re brash enough to continue proclaiming themselves better than the Bulls as the two teams prepare for Game 6 tonight at United Center.

Gerald Wallace first went public with the Nets’ assertion, following Brooklyn’s 110-91 season-saving win Monday night. The Nets, who won Game 1 before losing three straight, need a victory tonight to even the series at 3-3 and force Game 7, with the winner challenging the Heat in the second round.

NETS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

The prospect of beating the Bulls three straight games once seemed dubious. But the Nets believe all things being equal they can pull off the trifecta.

“We know we can play with these guys,” Lopez insisted. “We definitely think we’re the better team. It’s just a matter of taking it one game at a time.”

The Nets can proclaim themselves the better team all they want. It sounds cocky and confident and determined. But tonight they have to go out and prove it in front of a hostile crowd. That’s what the playoffs are about. Lose and no one wants to hear you were the better team.

“I just think we truly think we are,” Lopez said.

It’s as if this whole season has boiled down to this game; maybe more important than even a Game 7 might be. Beating the Bulls in a Game 6 in Chicago would be the biggest win for the franchise since Jason Kidd was in uniform. It would validate the regular season, add a notable highlight to the postseason and give the Nets assurance they won’t leave a sour taste in everyone’s mouth by being blown out in five or six games.

The Nets projected an air of confidence at their practice facility yesterday, playing down their 0-4 record in Chicago this season, including Game 4 when they blew a 14-point lead with three minutes to play in regulation and lost in triple overtime.

“We had the game wrapped up. We just didn’t close it the right way,” reserve center Andray Blatche said. “There’s no doubt in my mind we are the better team. We’re in a hole and we’re swinging to get out. You either go hard or go home and we’re going hard.”

Interim coach P.J. Carlesimo doesn’t mind his team proclaiming itself better than the Bulls despite trailing in the series. Maybe it’s because the Nets have averaged 122 points in their last two games against the Bulls and, except for the meltdown late in Game 4, they controlled the first 45 minutes of regulation.

“I just think that’s what they believe and I think it’s important they believe that,” Carlesimo said. “I think you’ve got to think you’re the better team. I don’t want them going in thinking we need to play over our heads or we need for [the Bulls] not to play well. The ideal situation is if we go in and play well we’re going to win the game because we’re the better team. That’s the good kind of confidence.”

Carlesimo makes a good case to remain as the head coach if the Nets can somehow become the first team to beat the Bulls after Chicago led a series 3-1. But the only way that happens is if the Nets can win at United Center tonight.

The Nets can proclaim they’re the better team all they want. Tonight they have to go out and prove it.