The Brooklyn Nets learned they clinched the six-seed in the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs during their 101-84 win over the Orlando Magic last Friday night as the Miami Heat fell to the Washington Wizards.
Brooklyn honed in on Head Coach Jacque Vaughan’s pregame message and started the game strong and focused, but relaxed some in the second half of the game as their position was secured with the Heat’s loss. Brooklyn’s initial push was their advantage in the home win.
“I knew the score of the Heat game,” Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie said. “It was right there. I don’t know if you noticed when it hit about up 15, 17 with three minutes to go, my level of intensity dropped a little bit.”
Nets Head coach Jacque Vaughn talked about Brooklyn being present and playing aggressive and in sync for all quarters during his pregame interview.
“I think we ended up losing the second half, so I would say no we didn’t play four quarters,” Coach Vaughn said. “There’s some growth for us still to have, where we stay focus and in the now and present the entire four quarters without any lapses”.
Following a road win in Detroit the Nets returned home to take on the Magic. Orlando’s rookie Paolo Banchero, the first overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, was inactive due to tightness in his back.
The Magic started the game assertive and were ahead until about 8:14 minutes remained in the first quarter. That’s when Brooklyn tied the score at six, took the lead and never fell behind Orlando for the remainder of the game. The Nets led 27-23 at the start of the second quarter as they played fast, made shots and gelled together in the second quarter. The Nets were ahead 58-39 at halftime. Center Nic Claxton led the Nets with 12 points and eight total rebounds at this point. By the end of the third quarter Brooklyn had 13 total steals and forced 18 turnovers. However, they were outscored by Orlando 23-20 in the third quarter alone. The Magic started to come back and cut the Nets lead to 10 with about 7:42 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Nets pushed back and increased the gap.
Mikal Bridges led the Nets with 22 total points. Bridges was asked about how it felt to make the playoffs compared to when he started playing with Brooklyn, after being traded by the Phoenix Suns in February.
“So it was definitely tough for a while, but finally clicking and finally figuring out what we can do out there,” he said. “It was dope. Just happy to be in this position.”
The Nets play the team of Bridge’s hometown, Philadelphia Sunday at the Barclays Center, for their final game of the regular season before facing them again in the playoffs. Philadelphia will present a challenge as the 3rd seed and they have the potential NBA MVP Joel Embiid.
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