Brooklyn Nets: Why Playoff Hopes Are Still Alive
Amidst a season with low expectations, high hopes and unbridled determination, a Brooklyn Nets team that started their season with seven straight losses now sits at 6–15 through six weeks of the regular season.
They’ve been ranked in the bottom three in each of ESPN’s six weekly NBA Power Rankings. This includes a week in which they were placed dead last, behind Philadelphia who has lost 24 consecutive games dating back to last season. But, the Nets can still make the playoffs.
After winning four of their previous eight, Brooklyn has shown undeniable signs of life, even in their losses. Most of which have been as close as a one-possession game with five minutes or less left to play. With the lone outlier being their 17-point loss to Knicks, Nets fans hold the right to take solace in the fact that this particular loss was exactly that, an outlier.
Although the record thus far is certainly unfavorable, it is indeed justified. To date, Brooklyn’s schedule has ranked second most difficult amongst the entire NBA this season according to ESPN. Currently, they sit just six games back from the final playoff spot in the East. More importantly, there are still 61 games left to play in this young NBA season.
The Nets have made the playoffs in every season since moving to Brooklyn. While the Nets’ winning percentage is certainly low, it is not something they cannot bounce back from. Just two seasons again, the Brooklyn Nets started 4-10 in the first 14 games while finishing the season strong to put them right in the playoff mix. With an easier schedule ahead, there is no reason why they would not be able to do that again this year.
One of the trending stories at the start of the season was the underwhelming play of some of their core pieces, like Joe Johnson and Thaddeus Young. Johnson had hit just 5 of his first 53 attempts from the field to start the season, something we’re not used to seeing from ISO-Joe, a bonafide scorer. What we’ve seen more of in recent games though, is ISO-Joe turned Facilitator-Joe, who is averaging more assists and less shot attempts. He is repetitively finding guys for shots down the stretch of games where we would normally see create a shot for himself in isolation. After putting together several consecutive solid outings, Thaddeus Young is now averaging 16.1 points and 9 rebounds on the season.
As the play of these two continue to trend upward, paired with the consistent solid play of Brook Lopez, the future looks, well, pretty good for Brooklyn.