It’s not even the All-Star break but, and the Nets have already received extra video games than they have been predicted to all season.
Get used to it, they are saying.
This supposedly tanking group is having fun with successful, eyeing the play-in, not the lottery.
The Nets beat the 76ers, 100-96, earlier than 16,133 at Barclays Middle, their sixth victory of their final seven video games.
They usually don’t give a rattling how a lot it vexes the pro-tanking crowd.
“We don’t care. We don’t care what they are saying about that,” Cam Johnson stated. “The 15, 18 guys on his group have a job to do, and our job is to not attempt to get a draft decide. Our job is just to win basketball video games, the basketball video games which might be in entrance of us, and that’s what we’re going to place our full effort in the direction of. We don’t care about all that different noise.
“If that’s what they suppose, then they’re probably not a fan. They don’t need us to succeed. You’re going to ask our personal gamers to lose? We’re not going to do this. We’re on the market to compete, to win each sport.”
This win pulled the Nets (20-34) simply 1 ½ video games behind Tenth-place Chicago within the East for the ultimate play-in spot.
Extra related to their tank-happy followers, it noticed them fall 3 ½ video games behind No. 5 Toronto within the lottery odds.
They’re six behind No. 4 Charlotte and a frightening 6 ½ out of a top-three spot the place the probabilities for the highest total decide develop into flattened.
Briefly, Cooper Flagg is trying extra like a mirage than a goal.
However these gamers received’t care. Not after D’Angelo Russell (22 factors, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) and Nic Claxton (13 factors, 11 rebounds, 5 blocks) and a dominant protection have put the play-in inside touching distance.
“Yeah, positively. We wanna get there. We wanna get to the playoffs,” stated Claxton, acutely conscious that lots of their followers need the other. “We don’t care. We’re rivals. We put a lot time in. We’ve been grinding our complete life to get to this stage. We might care much less about draft picks. We don’t care.
“We’re not naïve to it. The followers are upset after we win. That’s simply what it’s. It’s simply part of it. However we work so exhausting each single day, so we are able to’t attempt to lose video games. We’re gonna exit and attempt to win each sport. However I perceive the place the followers are coming from. I really feel why they’d need us to lose this yr and all the things. I really feel them. However we need to win.”
Brooklyn held the Sixers to 43.2 p.c capturing and 8-of-33 from deep, successful 50-38 on the glass.
Granted, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey didn’t play, however the Nets harassed Paul George into simply two factors on 1-of-7 capturing.
Russell helped Brooklyn construct an 11-point lead.
And even after falling behind 58-57 on Quentin Grimes’ 3 with 8:30 left within the quarter, the Nets had a solution.
The Nets tightened the defensive screws in a 12-2 run.
They held the Sixers to 1-for-8 capturing with three turnovers to take command for good.
Claxton had back-to-back blocks, resulting in a quick break by Trendon Watford (18 factors, three steals) and a 67-60 edge.
Then the middle’s layup made it 69-60 with 3:47 left within the third.
The Nets padded the result in 15 factors within the fourth earlier than a nervy finish.
Kelly Oubre Jr. and Grimes shared game-high honors with 30 for the Sixers.
It’s been a surprising turnaround for the Nets.
On Dec. 27, Brooklyn was 14-33 — only a half-game behind Charlotte for fourth within the lottery odds and solely two away from a top-three spot.
The play-in didn’t even look like a risk on the time, six video games out.
However issues have modified, the Nets having exceeded their projected win whole earlier than even reaching the All-Star break.
“We have been written off early,” Johnson stated. “Our projected win whole was decrease than what now we have now going into the break. It doesn’t imply we completed something, however it means we’re trending in the appropriate route.”