With back-to-back losses, first to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night at the Barclays Center and then on the road the following night against the Indiana Pacers, the Nets, 29-47 and the No. 11 seed in the Eastern Conference going into last’s game in Brooklyn versus the Pacers were facing the inevitable of being eliminated from the NBA Play-In Tournament.
They had no margin for error entering last night’s game on the second end of a home-and-home series. They are chasing the No. 10 seed Atlanta Hawks for the final play-in spot with just five regular season games remaining. The Hawks were 35-40 before facing the Detroit Pistons last night, 6 1/2 games ahead of the Nets with six games left.
The Nets were down 17-0 on Sunday night to the Lakers and lost 116-104. They fell behind early in the first quarter again on Monday by 39-21 and and bowed out to the Pacers 133-111.
“Give credit to them, they played their style of play,” said Brooklyn Nets interim head coach Kevin Ollie, who is 8-14 since taking over for the fired Jacque Vaughn. “They are relentless at it. We need to understand that and can’t be surprised by the pace on Wednesday. They are going to try to do the same thing and I know our guys are going to be ready and give a better mental and physical battle.”
It has been a disappointing season for the Nets. Ben Simmons being limited to just 15 games due to a nerve impingement in his back caused an imbalance in a roster that was already poorly constructed. The Nets are overstocked with too many wing players, lacking enough shot creators and need more frontcourt size and physicality. The 6-10, 240 pound Simmons provided rebounding, defense and playmaking in the role of point-forward. Vaughn ultimately was held accountable for the Nets’ poor performance but general manager Sean Marks bears more responsibility.
One of the few bright spots has been third-year shooting guard Cam Thomas, who leads the team in scoring and was at 22.0 points per game going into last night. He had the highest scoring month in his career in March, averaging 26.8 points in 11 games after returning from a right ankle/midfoot sprain. The 6-foot-3-inch Thomas, who was drafted by the Nets with the 27th pick of the first round in 2021 out of LSU, has improved in finding his teammates, averaging 4.3 assists in March.
Forward Trendon Watford, also an LSU product and Thomas’s former college teammate, has embraced the opportunity of increased playing time in the late stages of the schedule, scoring a season-high 21 points on Monday against the Pacers.
“Just taking advantage of the work I’ve been putting in, in the dark,” said the 23-year-old Watford, who went undrafted in 2021. “Even early in the year when I felt like I should have been playing it, even when I wasn’t,” he expressed on Sunday, “I was still just putting in the work, knowing the opportunity was going to come. So I think now it’s just trying to get wins on top of it. I think that is the most important thing, trying to finish off this season with as many wins as we can.”
The Nets will play their final three home games of the season starting with the Detroit Pistons on Saturday. They will host the Sacramento Kings on Sunday and close next Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors before two road games—April 12 versus the Knicks at Madison Square Garden and the April 14 season finale in Philadelphia against the 76ers.
