SALT LAKE CITY — After spending the past several days resting and relaxing in various locales, the Nets will reconvene Tuesday afternoon for practice in Utah ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Jazz.
They will do so comfortably inside the playoff picture in the woeful Eastern Conference, 2 ¹/₂ games ahead of ninth-place Detroit and 3 ¹/₂ games behind the Atlantic Division leading Raptors — a remarkable change from where they were on Jan. 1, when they were 10-21 and coming off of a humiliating loss to the Spurs on New Year’s Eve.
But after going 14-6 to begin 2014, the Nets enter the second half of the season confident they can run down Toronto, win the division and give themselves a chance to make some noise in the playoffs.
“We’ve positioned ourselves to control our own destiny, honestly,” Joe Johnson said. “By no stretch are we where we want to be, or where we thought we would be at this point in the season. It hasn’t been the greatest thing for us as players, because we understand the talent we have, and we should be a lot better.”
There’s no question the Nets were expected to be far better than their current 24-27 record when general manager Billy King went out and put together a roster than approached $190 million in payroll and luxury-tax commitments. But the combination of how weak the East is outside of Miami and Indiana and the Nets’ resurgence in 2014 has allowed them to climb back into the playoff picture and give themselves a chance to avoid the Heat and Pacers until the second round.
They’ll start their playoff push with a six-game road trip thanks to the circus taking up residence inside Barclays Center, and won’t return to Brooklyn until early March.
“This second half of the season, it should be much better for us, and we understand that,” Johnson said. “From here on out, every game is valuable. This West Coast trip is really, honestly, going to tell our season. We have two weeks on the road … we have to win more than we lose.”
That would help the Nets try and accomplish the first thing on their agenda, which is getting over the .500 mark. The Nets have never been over .500 this season, and haven’t been at .500 since early November.
If they’re going to try and surpass the Raptors and win the Atlantic Division, they will first have to do that. It’s something Paul Pierce set as a goal for the Nets by winning their final six games before the All-Star break, and though they weren’t able to do that, it is something that isn’t too far out of reach.
“That’s our short-term goal that we definitely know we can reach,” Johnson said. “We were in reach of it about a week or so ago, and we let it slip away before the break, but I think guys will regain their focus over this break, get back to work on Tuesday and be ready to go on Wednesday.”