You could certainly make the argument that if they were able to consistently play good basketball for 48 minutes, the Nets would possibly not be eliminated from the 2014 postseason right now. Late-game scoring droughts and defensive/mental miscues doomed Jason Kidd’s team in many regular season games and in nearly all of their playoff losses as well, a fact that is surprising for a team with as much postseason experience as the 2013-14 Nets.
Countless times would Brooklyn be holding a medium-sized lead (I would say from around six to 12 points) in the fourth quarter when the six-minute mark (or thereabouts) would strike and a debilitating scoring drought would ensue. I don’t have the statistics on this phenomena, but it happened in Games 2 and 5 of the Heat series (both Nets losses) and Games 3, 4, and 7 (two of which were Nets wins).
So that means Brooklyn’s record in games in which they totally (or just nearly) collapsed was 2-3, as five of the Nets’ 12 games this postseason were games in which they were completely inept in closing out games. Granted, they did get lucky a few times to win, but if they could have just sealed off wins in all five of those games, they just might still be in the playoffs right now as a potential Game 7 against the Heat would have been last night in Miami.
Obviously, the game of what-if is not helpful to the Nets right now, as this team is in an offseason of transition and uncertainly. It’s just that a team with as much playoff experience and previous high-stress postseason games under its belt should be able to finish out wins both at home and in hostile visiting arenas. If there’s one specific aspect of the 2013-14 Brooklyn Nets that is the most disappointing, it’s probably the fact that something that was supposed to be a strength–its familiarity with tight, playoff games–ended up becoming a relative weakness late in games.
That’s the most frustrating aspect of Brooklyn’s frustrating end to a season.
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