Nets followers couldn’t have scripted a three-game stretch higher than this.
Brooklyn’s victory over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday made it three in a row for a staff in search of chemistry and continuity throughout their finish of the season playoff push.
The successful streak features a 28-point come-from-behind victory over the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics, and a convincing victory over the identical Charlotte Hornets staff that ended the Knicks’ nine-game successful streak with out star guard LaMelo Ball.
And now comes a dose of actuality: The Houston Rockets personal the worst document in all of basketball and are the primary staff to succeed in 50 losses this season. They would be the worst staff within the NBA for the third straight season in the event that they end the yr at their present tempo.
The Hornets may as nicely be in the identical boat with out Ball. Their victory over the Knicks was their first because the star guard suffered a season-ending ankle harm. The Nets simply disposed of the Hornets and held them to beneath 90 factors.
There’s little question the victory over the Celtics was convincing — even when Boston took its foot off the fuel up large within the first half.
Can the Nets recreate that success for the remaining 4 video games on their highway journey?
It gained’t be straightforward.
That’s as a result of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are up subsequent, and Antetokounmpo simply dunked all around the Nets for 33 factors and 15 rebounds within the Bucks’ double-digit victory at Barclays Center on Feb. 28.
The Nets have undoubtedly began to seek out their identification on each ends of the ground — however it takes greater than a realization of self to cease Antetokounmpo, who stands out as the league’s most respected participant, even when voters are uninterested in casting ballots in his favor.
The Nets then journey to Minnesota to tackle the Timberwolves, who’re quietly creeping up the Western Conference standings and are only a half-game behind each the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors for the fifth and sixth seeds that insulate a staff from having to take part within the sudden-death Play-In Tournament.
The Timberwolves, nevertheless, have largely been a one-man present with Karl-Anthony Towns now sidelined 100 days with a extreme calf harm. The Nets, nevertheless, will likely be taking part in within the second recreation of a back-to-back, and Anthony Edwards — who’s averaging about 25 factors, six rebounds and 5 assists per recreation — is a handful in any respect three ranges offensively.
The Nets spherical out their highway journey with a check: touring to Denver to play within the excessive altitude in opposition to the presumptive three-time MVP in Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets personal the very best document within the Western Conference and are favorites to emerge as title contenders.
The Nets end their highway journey in Oklahoma City, taking up star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s averaging 31.7 factors per recreation as one of many NBA’s promising future faces of the league.
All the whereas, the Nets are jostling with different groups within the Eastern Conference for playoff positioning. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Nets and Knicks had been tied within the loss column, with the Knicks proudly owning two extra wins on the season. The Nets stand sixth within the East and are 2.5 video games forward of the seventh-seeded Miami Heat. They are 5 video games forward the eighth seed, which means it will take a five-game dropping streak — plus a five-game successful streak from the Atlanta Hawks — for the Nets to danger falling all the way down to eighth.
A dropping streak isn’t off the desk. The Nets have the ninth strongest remaining schedule in all of basketball and should play quite a lot of reliable title contenders within the 17 video games left within the common season.
If they’ve confirmed something all season, nevertheless, it’s that Brooklyn has some spine. The Nets gained’t go down with no struggle, and that ought to be sufficient to safe a playoff spot this season — although the thought of a championship in Brooklyn has lengthy left the borough.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com