Avery Johnson will hold a conference call at 2 p.m. ET Monday with Nets beat writers and there's no doubt he'll be asked about the value of winning so late in the season when the team is assured of its first round pick only if they finish first, second or third in the lottery. The writers have already written or tweeted about it.
With their win over. the Kings, the Nets "dropped" from fourth to seventh in the lottery and in doing so slid from a 37.8% chance at the top three down to 15%. Of course, they also won their third straight game, something they hadn't done all year and they did it with an effort that proved the value of adding an electrifying contributor in Gerald Wallace.
Colin Stephenson frames the debate this way, "If they keep this up this winning stuff, all they're doing is lowering their odds of keeping their pick this year." Of course, the point of the game is winning and somehow we can't see Johnson telling his players as they head out to the court, "A little light on the hustle tonight. OK, fellas?"
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Nets stretch their winning streak to three games with 111-99 win over Sacramento - Colin Stephenson - Star-Ledger