The Nets close the gap in the race for a play-in spot
The Nets took a positive step in their push for a spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament on Tuesday night with a 112-107 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at the Barclays Center. The win put the No. 11 seed in the Eastern Conference at 25-37, 2.5 games behind the No. 10 seed (27-34) Atlanta Hawks. The No. 7 through No. 10 seeds will take part in the play-in.
Nets head coach Kevin Ollie said his team showed the mental and physical attitude necessary to to keep pace as the regular season comes down to the final five weeks.
“Philly came out and I think they were up about 14 points or something like that and we just dug in, stayed together, stayed connected, [and] challenged the guys,” he said. “Nobody was pointing their fingers and we just hunt better when we’re in a pack, not individually. And I’m going to keep saying it like a broken record. We hunt better when we are in a pack and we stayed in a pack today.”
Nets guard Lonnie Walker IV assessed his team’s development through their struggles.
“I think at the beginning of the season, I have continuously said that we’re figuring it out and we’re growing and we’re improving and we’re learning from it,” guard Walker said after Tuesday’s win. “This is a clear example of all that growth and all the trials and tribulations that we’ve been through, and we stepped up as a team collectively. Everyone did their job. This is something that you expect and you get down the stretch.”
With an unbalanced roster, the Nets have not found a formula for long stretches of consistent winning this season. They are heavy on guards and forwards who primarily play on the perimeter and lack scoring and physicality in the paint. The victim of their up and down performances, mostly down, led to the firing of former head coach Jacque Vaughn during last month’s All-Star break.
Vaughn was replaced by Ollie, who was hired by the Nets last June to be an assistant on the coaching staff. Ollie was the head coach for the University of Connecticut from 2012-2018 and led them to NCAA title in 2014.
He earned the first winning streak of his pro coaching career over the weekend, as the Nets rallied to overcome a 13-point deficit to defeat the Atlanta Hawks 114-102 Saturday night. Brooklyn, who also topped the Hawks two days earlier, have won three of their last four games and four of their last six. The team is .500 after eight games with Ollie at the helm going into tonight’s game versus the Detroit Pistons, the start of a six-game road trip, all but one against Eastern Conference opponents.
Nets starting small forward Cam Johnson left Tuesday’s game after playing less than nine minutes with what Coach Ollie described as a right ankle sprain. Johnson, whose status for the upcoming road trip was unknown at AmNews press time, joins guard Cam Thomas and forward Ben Simmons, both of whom have missed the last five games, Thomas with a right ankle/midfoot sprain and Simmons dealing with a left lower back nerve impingement. Center Day’Ron Sharpe also missed Tuesday’s game with a right wrist contusion.
The Nets have only 20 games remaining in the regular season, and following the Pistons will face the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday, the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, the Indiana Pacers on March 16, and the San Antonio Spurs on March 17 in a special Spurs home game in Austin, Texas.
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