Last night’s loss pushed the Nets one game closer to a second-consecutive first round exit, meaning Brooklyn is on the verge of falling to their divisional rival Raptors after just six games, which would certainly be an embarrassment.
Brooklyn has had ample chances to take the lead in this series, and another one presented itself yesterday as the Nets fought back to tie Toronto in the fourth quarter after being down by as much as 26 points in the third quarter. However, lack of late game execution–notably a few key missed shots, bad passes, and poor defense–would doom Jason Kidd’s team for the third time in this series.
If the Nets do lose Game 6, which takes place tomorrow night in Brooklyn at Barclays, they will have severely underperformed expectations yet again, and with one of the older rosters in the league–with a bunch of potential free agents in the next two offseasons–there’s no guarantee this team will be as good next year as it now. And if that’s true, then the already-small championship window for this incarnation of the Nets is just about closed up, unless they were to make a big move in free agency or the trade market.
However, there’s no doubt in my mind that this Nets team doesn’t want to be remembered as the one with loads of talent and potential that just wasn’t able to put it together in the playoffs after playing great basketball from January until April. The only way they can avoid this sort of infamous and undesirable legacy is by taking care of business on their home floor in front of their home fans who have stuck with the team through a dreadful start in order to experience its amazing finish.
Obviously, down 3-2 in a series, the Nets can only take one game at a time but would also need to win Game 7 in front of a hostile Raptors crowd in order to advance into the second round to take on the defending champion Miami Heat, who the Nets have really wanted to meet up with in the playoffs all season.
If they aren’t able to win Game 6, then it will be a long summer for everyone involved with the Nets, from Jason Kidd to Billy King to the players and to the fans. They will all be questioning what could have been if Andray Blatche made that pass or if Brooklyn could have made just a few more threes or a few more defensive stops. They will also be hearing it from Knicks fans, and others around the league, about how disappointing the 2013-14 Nets were. And they would be right.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
