MIAMI — The NBA regular season and first two rounds of the playoffs were supposed to be little more than a prelude to a rematch between the Heat and Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Indeed, the two teams surged out to a huge lead in the East and watched the other potential contenders fall apart.
The Nets, expected to be one of those challengers, stumbled coming out of the gate, going 10-21 through the first two months and enduring one injury after another to key players, including Brook Lopez being lost for the year. The Bulls, another potential challenger, lost Derrick Rose for the season to yet another knee injury and later traded away Luol Deng for luxury-tax relief and a draft pick. The Knicks, a third possible contender, fell apart with injuries and ineffectiveness, and are now almost certain to miss the playoffs.
But over the past few weeks, a funny thing has happened. While the Heat temporarily slipped up, going 4-7 during one stretch, the Pacers have imploded, going 9-12 since March 1, including an embarrassing loss to the hapless Hawks at home on Sunday — when Indiana scored 23 points in the first half and trailed by 32 at halftime.
Meanwhile, the Nets have gone 15-5 and have a chance to sweep the two-time defending champion Heat with a win at AmericanAirlines Arena Tuesday night. So, suddenly, the question has to be asked: Are the Nets the team best positioned to defeat the Heat in the East this year?
“I think we’ve got a good chance,” Joe Johnson said prior to the Nets’ practice on the Heat’s home court Monday afternoon. “Obviously the game is played on the court, so we’ve just got to stay within ourselves and just trusting one another.
“We know we can play with any team in this league, and we’ve proven that, and so we’ve just got to keep coming out and showing it.”
The Nets have proven that over the past few months, when they turned their season around with a win in Oklahoma City Jan. 2 on Johnson’s buzzer-beater over Serge Ibaka. Since then, they have gone an Eastern Conference-best 32-13, including wins over many of the league’s elite teams.
That includes a trio of victories over the Heat, including a 96-95 win last month when the Nets were missing two of their most important defenders in Andrei Kirilenko and Kevin Garnett, a result that only further enhances a veteran team’s confidence.
“We feel like we can play with anybody,” Deron Williams said. “Whoever we play, we feel like we can compete with them.”
Still, the opportunity to knock off the Heat all four times they’ve met during the regular season doesn’t have the Nets preparing the championship parade just yet. As Paul Pierce pointed out, his Celtics beat the Heat three out of four times each of the past two years, but that success didn’t translate to the playoffs — including the Celtics losing in seven games to Miami in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals.
“The key is, man, it’s about getting better,” Pierce said. “As you all know, it doesn’t matter how many regular-season victories you have, how many times you beat one opponent, because once the playoffs start, everybody is 0-0.
“Right now we’re just trying to get better going into the playoffs.”
It’ll be hard for the Nets to play much better than they have over the last several weeks, as they enter Tuesday with 16 wins in their last 21 games — including a 14-5 record with Garnett sitting out with back spasms.
Garnett will be sitting out again Tuesday — part of his maintenance plan to get himself fully healthy and ready for the playoffs — but the Nets still expect to give the Heat a game.
“We’re not looking to sweep or anything like that,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said, “but they are world champs, and you want to play your best against them.”