The Nets have won three of the last four games and have looked good. The schedule ahead is tough but Brooklyn has now been the six seed for more than a month and for the most part, the Power Rankings reflect that. Pundits have them in the middle of the pack in Week 20 rankings with one putting them No. 13. One fun fact: Most of the rankings, completed before Monday’s game, had the Spurs ahead of the Nets.
Here’s the latest including a lot of interesting fun facts.
John Schuhmann, NBA.com (15)
D’Angelo Russell had a rough night in the Nets’ first game out of the break, shooting 4-for-16 and registering a game-low minus-30 as the Nets got beat up inside by the Blazers. He had a star moment two nights later in Charlotte, saving the Nets after they blew a 19-point lead in one of their most important games of the season by scoring their final 12 points(and tying a career high with 40 total) on his birthday. Among 27 players with at least 50 clutch field goal attempts, only Kyrie Irving has a higher effective field goal percentage than Russell, who’s the third Nets player -- Spencer Dinwiddie (tied for the lead league with six) and Joe Harris (five) are the others -- with at least four buckets to tie or take the lead in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime (only 18 other players have as many). They’re still waiting on the return of Dinwiddie, but have been starting Caris LeVert to help him find his rhythm. LeVert has shot just 35 percent in his five games since returning from a near-three-month absence.
Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN (16)
Caris LeVert is still finding his rhythm since his return from a severely dislocated right foot, averaging nine points and four assists in 23.6 minutes per game with an effective field goal percentage of 39.1. A confident LeVert would be a boon for the Nets this spring, giving them another perimeter attacker who can challenge defenses off the dribble, off the pick-and-roll and on the break. The Nets lead the NBA in total drives this season, with league-average efficiency off those possessions.
Khadrice Rollins, Sports Illustrated (13)
The final month of the Nets’ schedule is a nightmare. They have a seven-game road trip where the worst team they face is the Lakers. That transitions into a stretch of six straight against the top-five seeds in the East, with two of those coming against the Bucks. Brooklyn likely won’t catch up to the top five teams, so if it wants to hold onto the six seed, it needs the tiebreaker over the lurking Pistons.
Zach Harper, The Athletic (15)
Prediction: Brooklyn Nets finish with the No. 7 seed and give the Toronto Raptors a scare in the first-round.
The Nets have faltered a little bit over the last 3.5 weeks. They went from surging toward the sixth-seed to now being mired in a neck-and-neck race with Detroit for it. Brooklyn sits 1.5 games ahead of Detroit heading into this week, but they’re tied in the loss column at 30. That means the Pistons just have to make up the difference in games with three wins. That’s easier said than done for a team under .500 this season, but as we stated above, the Pistons are trending upward at the right time. So where does that leave Brooklyn in their quest to not only clinch a playoff spot but also get up to the No. 6 seed? I think they’re in trouble with that second part.
I don’t worry about the Nets making the playoffs. They’re clearly better than the teams below them, save for Detroit at the moment. But the Nets have the fifth hardest schedule remaining in the NBA. They still play Milwaukee a couple more times, along with Philadelphia and Toronto again. Detroit’s 17th ranked remaining schedule is much more manageable. While I think the Nets fall to seventh in the East, I think it sets them up to get noticed in the postseason by pushing Toronto to six or seven games. I don’t believe the Nets can upset the Raptors in this 2 vs. 7 matchup, but I believe they’ll scare them while bringing up (momentarily) all of the old Raptors playoff jokes.
Reid Forgrave, CBS Sports (14)
Worst-case scenario: That the Nets miss the playoffs would be a worst-case scenario, considering they are currently three games up in the playoff race. But a worse case would be that they can’t quite figure what to do with All-Star D’Angelo Russell. Can he, Spencer Dinwiddie and Caris LeVert all really coexist for the long term on a winning team? That’s to be determined. But even if the Nets miss the playoffs, this team’s future looks bright.
Tommy Beer, Yahoo! Sports (16)
D’Angelo Russell celebrated his 23rd birthday in style on Saturday night. He scored a career-high with 40 points, including the final 12 points for the Nets, to carry them to an impressive victory over the Hornets in Charlotte. He also racked up seven assists, two steals, one block and six 3-pointers. DAR joined Vince Carter and Kenny Anderson as one of only three Nets ever to tally 40+ points, more than five assists and more than 5 made 3- pointers in a single game.
Brad Rowland, DIME (16)
The Spurs are a mess (we’ll cover that momentarily) but Brooklyn just knocked off San Antonio and Charlotte in back-to-back games. The Nets are just solid and playoff-caliber. That isn’t sexy, but it’s true.