It's hard to imagine the Nets being ranked much above No. 30 if they hadn't beaten the Thunder --leading from wire-to-wire no less. They were 1-11 and losers of five straight when Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young ran a tandem double-double on OKC.
Still, no one has them ranked above No. 26 and a few power rankers have them below the historically bad 76ers this week. Won't get much of an argument here. Over the last month, the Sixers have been better.
Here ya go...
John Schuhmann, NBA.com (27)
The Sporadically Competent Nets showed up against Oklahoma City on Sunday, putting together their best offensive performance of the season behind 31 points from Brook Lopez. Joe Johnson has shot 27-for-52 from 3-point range in January, but his inability to get to the line (303 field goal attempts and 27 free throw attempts since Dec. 1) remains a mystery. The schedule starts to ease up a bit now (not that it matters).
Marc Stein, ESPN (26)
Apologies, Nets fans. Can't see Sunday's events having any real impact on Kevin Durant's summer plans. But Brooklyn's thumping of OKC, fueled by a big Brook Lopez night, was impressive nonetheless. According to Elias, it was the first time a team more than 20 games below .500 led wire-to-wire against the Thunder since Indiana (23-46 at the time) pulled off that feat in March 2010.
Matt Moore, CBS Sports (29)
I legitimately went through four different "the Nets are sad" blurbs, before realizing I'd used all of them in the last year. It's getting very difficult to find new ways of describing how much they suck.
Kurt Helin, NBC Sports (27)
Owner Mikhail Prokhorov sounds like a guy thinking short term fixes can turn this franchise around sooner rather than doing it via a slower rebuild. If so, if the new GM can’t convince him otherwise, I will pity Nets fans. On the court, their new starting five of Donald Sloan, Wayne Ellington, Joe Johnson, Thaddeus Young, and Brook Lopez has played fairly well together.
Jeremy Woo, Sports Illustrated (29)
The Nets had lost 10 of 11 entering Sunday’s surprise win over the Thunder, which was delayed by four hours due to blizzard effects in Brooklyn. They’re now officially bland enough to inspire comments about the weather.
Adi Joseph, USA Today (28)
They need a coach ... David Blatt needs a job. Could it happen?
Tim Bontemps, Washington Post (28)
At least the Nets have Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young are here, giving the Nets a couple of prime-aged veterans to rebuild around.
Dan Devine, Yahoo! Sports (29)
I can't in good conscience put the Nets in last place again after a wire-to-wire win over Oklahoma City. Yes, injuries and organizational terror have Brooklyn fielding arguably the league's most nondescript roster, but dammit, Brook Lopez put up 31 and 10 on a title contender. That's worth a Not Last Place in my book. Ding!