Limping into the playoffs won’t necessarily preclude the Nets from a long postseason run — and last year’s NBA Finals provide just the latest indication.
The 2020 league finalists — the eventual champion Lakers and the team they beat for the title, the Heat — both finished the season losing six of their final nine games, including 3-5 marks once play resumed for seeding purposes in the NBA’s bubble.
The Nets suddenly have lost four games in a row for the first time this season, likely eliminating their prospects of surpassing the 76ers for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The late-season slump also has possibly set them up to drop to the third playoff position. The Bucks entered their game Friday night against the NBA-worst Rockets a half-game behind the Nets, with control of the head-to-head tiebreaker between the teams.
The Nets (43-24) have five games remaining, starting with Saturday’s visit to Denver. And they hope James Harden still will return before the playoffs begin after missing the past 17 games with a hamstring strain.
The Nets’ assembled Big 3 of Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have played just seven games together. They are 27-7 when Harden has played this season and 9-11 without him since he was acquired in January from the Rockets.
Harden said Thursday “the plan” was to attempt to play “a couple” of games before the end of the regular season.
“Well clearly, James is an amazing player. He means a lot to this team. We’ve had a lot of success with him before. He’ll improve us immediately in a lot of ways, he’ll cover up a lot of holes,” coach Steve Nash said after Thursday’s loss in Dallas. “But we still don’t have that common experience. So we need to grow and learn and play together.
“That may not be enough, but it is what it is, and we’ve got to come together as quickly as possible. And what can we control to win games as we’re finding that understanding and cohesion?”
Thursday’s game marked the team-record 35th starting lineup Nash has employed this season. Irving, when asked if it has been a “daunting” challenge to find continuity before the playoffs begin, offered a mixed response.
“Daunting in this game, in this business, I don’t know about that, but it’s been an adjustment for us to learn one another on the fly,” Irving replied. “Learn each other’s games on the fly; 35 games with different lineups, you’re learning on the fly.
“We can say we’re professionals, we know what to expect from one another. When things are going well we’re happy — hooray — and when things are not going well we’re, ‘Ah well, we need to do this, we need to make some adjustments.’ I think that’s normal, that’s healthy. But for us we’re really just focused on our health first and we want to get guys prepared for whatever that next stage looks like when things matter and it’s win or go home.”
Moreover, Irving added he wants the roster “to be as healthy as possible” after Durant also missed nearly two months with a hamstring injury before returning to the lineup in April.
“You can’t make up time spent with anyone unless you just go do it,” Irving said. “We are in a part of our journey right now where we’re being challenged and we have to look deep within in terms of what each one of us can do in our roles to be better for the collective unit.
“This has to be about our team, it has to be about ‘we,’ and I think we do a great job of that. But now we are asking each other to go to a certain level. Some of us have been on a championship level, some of us have not, and trying to mesh that together takes time. Usually it takes teams one or two seasons, three seasons, or the case may be, but now we’re heading into this playoff run where we have to make it up on the fly. And that’s OK. But at the same time, things are not gonna look perfect and we have to inevitably be ready for that.”
