When you consider it as being six games back with 17 games to play, it sounds possible, it sounds conceivable, it sounds — to use the word of new stud in town Deron Williams — “doable” for the Nets to make the playoffs.
Then you consider other factors.
But the Nets know they are now capable of beating playoff caliber teams. They proved that with their stunning upset Monday of the Celtics. They get a chance to prove it again tomorrow against the Bulls.
“We battled,” Williams said of the 88-79 win over Boston. “It was a playoff-type game, a defensive game, a grind-it-out game.”
Maybe Nets fans can think playoffs. At least until those other factors arrive.
The Nets have to pass four teams: Detroit, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Indiana. Of those four teams, the Nets (22-43, winners of five in a row) have the toughest remaining schedule. Of their 17 remaining games, 10 are on the road, where they are 4-27. The breakdowns for other teams: Charlotte (28-38) and Milwaukee (26-40) have eight home, eight road; Indiana (29-38) and Detroit (23-44) have eight at home and seven on the road.
Eight of the Nets’ remaining opponents have winning records, eight have losing records and one, Houston, is .500.
The Nets hold no tiebreakers. Indiana has the edge in the head-to-head category. Charlotte is 2-1 with one game remaining but has a far better conference record (16-23) than the Nets (12-25) should they tie in head-to-head meetings. Milwaukee already has the tiebreaker, even before the Nets play there Friday. The Nets can win the tiebreaker with the Pistons — they hold a 2-1 series edge with one to play — but should they tie, and the criteria moves to conference record, Detroit is up three games.
So six out with 17 to play sounds better than all that other stuff. Really, all the late push likely will accomplish is to drop the Nets’ pick, now owned by Utah, deeper in the lottery.
Indiana is in eighth place after beating the Knicks 119-117 last night. If the Pacers go just 6-9 to reach 35 wins, the Nets would need to go 14-3.
Yeah, that five-game win streak is exciting, but 14-3 seems unrealistic. That’s because they have back-to-back games with Orlando and Atlanta, two games with the Knicks, a game with Miami, one at Philadelphia and two games against the Bulls (but one could be meaningless to Chicago in the season’s last game).
“It is a big gap with so few games to go,” coach Avery Johnson said. “But it’s good when people bring it up. If there’s any excitement in the air, it’s great. I’m sounding like a worn-out record but any positives around here, we can use them.”
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As expected, the Nets assigned point guard Ben Uzoh to their D-League affiliate, the Springfield Armor yesterday.