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ONLY GAME IN TOWN! BROOKLYN NETS HEADED TO PLAYOFFS AFTER GRIZZLIES DEFEAT PACERS

Thank you Memphis!

By Anthony Puccio
Brooklyn Nets

BROOKLYN -- Less than 24 hours ago, all hope seemed lost for the Brooklyn Nets and their 38-44 season. Things changed and they needed some help along the way.

They'll make a third straight playoff appearance since arriving in Brooklyn. And it's all thanks to the Memphis Grizzlies ... and Bojan Bogdanovic

If the Grizzlies had lost and the Nets missed the playoffs, Brooklyn would've had to surrender a lottery pick to the Atlanta Hawks. They will still wind up with the Hawks' first round pick, at No. 29, but now they're giving up the No. 15, not potentially a top pick. The swap was included in the Joe Johnson deal. The most expensive team in the NBA  missing the playoffs? That would've been a nightmare.

Somehow, some way the Brooklyn Nets prevailed.

Here's how it went down:

  • The Pacers owned the eighth seed after a double overtime victory against the Washington Wizards Tuesday night. The Nets, who held the tiebreaker, would've passed Indiana had they lost in the double OT. No luck for Brooklyn, even though Washington played all their starters throughout. It was heartbreaking and the season felt lost.
  • Down one game with only one game remaining. The Nets started play at 8:00, while the Pacers had to wait until 9:30 to go up against the Grizzlies. The Nets needed to beat Orlando (which they did) and then wait to see if Indiana lost in Memphis to advance.
  • Many worried that Memphis would rest their starters, but the Spurs lost which meant with a win over Indiana, they would jump the standings in the West. Behind a 33-point, 13 rebound performance from Marc Gasol, the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the exhausted Pacers, 95-83.
It won't be easy. The Nets were swept by the Hawks in the regular season, 4-0, with three of the four losses by double-digits. The most recent loss, the Nets pushed Atlanta until the very end, but fell short 114-111 in Brooklyn.

This makes the Nets one of just three Eastern Conference teams to make the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, joining their 1st round opponent Atlanta and Chicago.

Here's the schedule.

Round one schedule:

Game 1: Nets @ Hawks, Sunday 5:30 -- TNT

Game 2: Nets @ Hawks, Wednesday 7:00 -- NBA TV

Game 3: Hawks @ Nets, Saturday 3:00 -- TNT

Game 4: Hawks @ Nets, TBD

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