Here, in mid-April, the Brooklyn Nets finish up their 2013-14 regular season against the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena in Northeast Ohio. In fact, they will play their 82nd game in the same building they played their 1st game, as Brooklyn lost its October 30th season opener 98-94 to the Cavs in Cleveland. This is an interesting and possibly rare scheduling quirk that is kind of symbolic, since the Nets are ending the (regular) season where it started.
Tonight’s meeting doesn’t mean much for Cleveland, long since eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoffs, but it means the world to the Nets, who are currently the East’s No. 5 seed. Brooklyn has a one-game lead over 6th place Washington, which plays the Celtics tonight in Boston. Both teams are scheduled to tip at 8:00 pm, so neither team will know if the other has won or lost before their own game is over.
It gets a little complicated so I’ll quickly run through the possible outcomes and their seeding implications:
1. The Nets win and Wizards win. If this were to happen, Brooklyn would remain the No. 5 seed and Washington would be No. 6. The Nets would finish the season at 45-37, a record four games worse than their record from the 2012-13 campaign.
2. The Nets win and Wizards lose. Obviously, the Nets would still remain the No. 5 seed. However, since the Wizards are only one game ahead of the No. 7 Charlotte Bobcats (who hold the tiebreaker between the two), they would fall a spot if the Bobcats were to beat the Chicago Bulls tonight.
3. The Nets lose and Wizards win. Washington is the No. 5 seed and Brooklyn the No. 6.
4. The Nets lose and Wizards lose. Nets stay at the No. 5 and Washington would only be No. 6 if Charlotte loses to Chicago.
Okay, now that the Nets seeding is resolved, who they could possibly play in the first round has to be dealt with, and it could get a little confusing.
Both the Raptors and Bulls are 48-33, with Toronto–which plays the Knicks at MSG tonight–holding the tiebreaker over Chicago. So if the Raptors win (regardless of how the Bulls do), they will be the No. 3 seed in the East and would only play the Nets should Brooklyn lose and Washington win, matching the No. 4 Bulls with the Nets.
However, if Toronto loses and Chicago wins, the Bulls would be the No. 3 seed–with Toronto the No. 4–most likely facing the Nets off with Chicago, who they infamously lost to in last year’s first round of the postseason.
Most of the situations I just outlined are rendered moot if the Nets just take care of business against the Cavaliers. However, Deron Williams, Shaun Livingston, Joe Johnson, and Mirza Teletovic are all expected to miss the game (mostly due to rest) so if Brooklyn will even put up a legitimate fight is yet to be seen. There has even been some talk of the Nets gaming their recent contests in order to avoid Chicago, a team that has always caused them trouble.
Now, I don’t now if any of that is true, but it’s certainly possible. However, I truly don’t think the Nets care too much about who they play and have enough confidence to believe they can take down any team that goes against them. What will truly happen, though, remains to be seen.
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