• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

March 19, 2015, Queens, NY  If you’re twelve games under .500 (27-39 as of March 18) with sixteen games left, you would probably be playing for pride or playing for ping-pong balls.  In both scenarios, the last thing you’d be playing for is the playoffs.

However, this is no ordinary season, and the Brooklyn Nets have life and a reasonable shot at making the playoffs, at least logistically.  At this point, every game is like a playoff game.  The Nets find themselves in 11th place with three teams perched in front of them, Boston, Indiana, and Charlotte respectively.  Fortunately, the difference between the 11th seeded Nets and 8th seeded Celtics is a mere 2 ½ games.

Boston and Indiana have been playing well over their last ten games with both teams posting 7-3 records, and Charlotte is one game behind at 6-4.  The Nets are a “so-so” 4-6 over their last ten games.  If the Nets can go 11-5 or even 10-6 over the last 16 games, their chances of making the playoffs are good because Boston and Indiana are unlikely to continue winning at a .700 clip.

Tomorrow’s home game (7:30 p.m., at Barclays with tickets still available and the game being broadcasted live over the YES network) against the Milwaukee Bucks is the first step in the Nets’ “de facto” playoffs.  The Bucks have lost four in a row and are 2-8 over their last ten games.  Also improving the Nets’ chances is the Bucks’ 15-21 road record.  Every win gets them (Nets) closer to being in, and every lost is a proverbial “nail in the coffin.”  It is clear what the Nets must do: Buck the Bucks.

Professor Clifford Benton can be reached at cliffb@puresportsny.com

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By Vernon McKenzie

Graduate of New Institute Of Technology with a BA in Communications with a focus on Television Radio. Owner and Executive Producer of PureSportsNY

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