CLEVELAND — So much for the fifth seed.
With a chance to clinch that spot in the Eastern Conference with a victory in the regular-season finale against the Cavaliers on Wednesday night, Nets coach Jason Kidd opted to rest his team instead, sitting all five starters and using only seven players in a 114-85 loss at Quicken Loans Arena.
With the loss and the Wizards’ win in Boston, the Nets (44-38) fell into sixth place in the East, putting themselves in line for a matchup with the Atlantic Division champion Raptors beginning Saturday in Toronto.
“We’re healthy now, and no one got hurt tonight,” Kidd said. “The guys played hard for 48 minutes, and actually had a really good first half. I’m proud of those guys, but now we turn the page on the regular season, and now get ready for Toronto.”
The one thing in the Nets’ control was the result of Wednesday’s game against the Cavaliers, which was almost immediately left without much doubt when Kidd named a starting lineup of Jorge Gutierrez, Marquis Teague, Marcus Thornton, Andray Blatche and Jason Collins, with only Mason Plumlee and Andrei Kirilenko used off the bench.
Alan Anderson was dressed in order to fulfill the minimum requirement of eight players being active for a game, but didn’t play, coming off a sore abdominal muscle.
By losing to the Cavaliers — the Nets’ fourth loss in the final five games of the regular season — they ensured they would miss out on facing the Bulls, the playoff-tested bunch that eliminated the Nets in the first round a year ago.
Instead, they drew the Raptors, a younger team making its first playoff appearance since 2008.