Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
That adage can be applied to the Nets in multiple ways, and especially after they beat the Trail Blazers 106-96 in Brooklyn on Monday night.
For starters, the fact the Nets are in the Eastern Conference, where three teams could make the playoffs with losing records, has allowed Brooklyn to remain in the hunt for a playoff spot despite struggling for most of the season.
It also had to be considered a break for the Nets that Portland left three key players home for their one game cross-country road trip, with Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts deeming it better for his team’s playoff hopes to leave LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum and Chris Kaman back in the Pacific Northwest to rest instead of making the trip for the rescheduled contest.
But the Nets didn’t let the opportunity pass them by, burying the Trail Blazers to remain in seventh place, moving a full game ahead of the eighth-place Celtics and two ahead of the Pacers and Heat in ninth while dropping their magic number to clinch a third straight postseason berth to four.
“We got back on track,” said Brook Lopez, who followed up winning a second straight Eastern Conference Player of the Week award to finish with 32 points and nine rebounds against his brother, Robin, Portland’s starting center. “It was good that we kept focus despite the fact they didn’t have everyone traveling with them.”
That was the only acceptable outcome for this game after Stotts made the decision to leave three of his rotation players home to rest nagging injuries instead of flying about 5,000 miles round trip to play a game that was originally scheduled for Jan. 26.
And by taking care of business and putting away the short-handed Trail Blazers, the Nets have now won 11 of their past 14 games — including five straight at home — to surge back into the playoff picture.
The biggest reason they’ve been able to do so has been Lopez, who has played better the past month or so than he’s ever played in his seven-year NBA career. He got plenty of help Monday from Deron Williams and Thaddeus Young, however, as Williams had 24 points, six rebounds and 10 assists and Young chipped in 20 points and five boards.
“Brook has stepped up, Deron has stepped up, and Thaddeus has just been good for us since he got here,” Nets coach Lionel Hollins said.
The three of them also put together a quick 7-0 run in the fourth to ensure the Nets walked out victorious after Portland stormed back into the game after trailing by as many as 22 in the second half thanks to All-Star point guard Damian Lillard putting up 25 of his 36 points after the break.
But after the Nets saw their lead cut to six with 4:38 left, Williams and Lopez ran a picture-perfect pick-and-roll that resulted in a Lopez basket, followed by Williams hitting a 3-pointer in transition and Young throwing down a massive dunk in Leonard’s face to push the lead back to 96-83 with 3:01 left.