Atlantic Division title becoming increasingly lofty goal for the Nets

The last time the Nets won the Atlantic Division was back in the 2005-06 season, seven years ago as a matter-of-fact. That Nets team, still based in New Jersey, was led by stars like Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson, in addition to role players such as Jacque Vaughn (current head coach of the Orlando Magic), Scott Padgett, and even fan favorites Zoran Planinic and Bostjan "Bokie" Nachbar. Clearly, none of those six players are still with the organization and a bunch aren't even playing anymore. 

The 2012-13 Brooklyn Nets are far, far removed from that division-winning squad, which represented the last incarnation of the Nets franchise to have a winning record (49-33), something that the current Nets have already clinched. The next year, New Jersey finished 41-41, barely making the postseason but not coming real close to repeating for a division crown. With that said, the new-look team is really the only true contending Nets team to exist since that exceptional 05-06 squad.

However, as good as Brook Lopez, Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and co. have played in the Nets' inaugural campaign in Kings County, odds are that they won't be able to match the feat last attained by that team from seven seasons ago. Don't get me wrong, Brooklyn is by no means mathematically eliminated from overcoming the Knicks–who are currently 4.5 games ahead in the Atlantic–but common sense would tell you that, with the Nets having just nine more games to go, a division title in the 2012-13 season is highly unlikely.

As recently as March 17th, the Nets were within just one win of tying New York for the division lead. Given a golden opportunity to gain ground on their cross-city rivals after Manhattan's team dropped four games in-a-row, Brooklyn was literally within an arm's length (or just a win over Atlanta) away from finally reaching the plateau that they have been desperately chasing after for seven season, back into an era when George W. Bush was still the President of the United States.

In typical Nets fashion though, in that all-crucial home games vs the Hawks that Sunday night at the Barclays Center, a brutally inept effort followed, which culminated in a blown fourth quarter lead that resulted in a 12-points Hawks win. Atlanta won the final period 34-20, a number that clearly and easily tells the story of the whole game itself. Brooklyn fell apart in the last 12 minutes separating it from a share of the Atlantic Division helm, sending the Nets down a path of mediocre basketball (they have been 4-3 since that loss).

Normally, four wins and three losses in a seven-game stretch doesn't spell doom for a team in a tight, end-of-season race. But when the other team in the race rips off an eight-game winning streak (that is still going) as the Knicks have, it could definitely enlarge a deficit to a size that is simply unmanageable. 

Sure, with the Knicks having 10 games left and the Nets having nine games left this season respectively, Brooklyn making up a 4.5-game margin is far from impossible. Margins of similar sizes have been narrowed down plenty of times before in the NBA's rich and illustrious history. But with the Nets' recent injury troubles (Joe Johnson hasn't played in over a week) and poor play (they are on a two-game losing skid, dropping ugly contests to Utah and Denver) combined with the high-level of play the Knicks have been performing with during their streak, an elimination of the latter's current stranglehold on the Atlantic tilts towards the unlikelier part of the spectrum as opposed to the more possible part.