After Eventful Regular Season, Brooklyn Nets Gear Up For Postseason

The NBA season is described as a marathon and perhaps more so than any of the pro leagues.

And while other teams underwent their own sagas to reach Game 82 and beyond in the realm of postseason, it is possible to concede no team endured the marathon as much as the Nets, who celebrated their 10th season in Brooklyn with what was also their most eventful or something like a long, strange trip through the season that continues with a first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The season began with Kevin Durant rescinding his initial trade request from last summer that was born out of frustration for bad habits for the 11-game losing streak in the winter of 2022 that doomed the Nets to a play-in game and eventual four-game sweep to the Boston Celtics.

By the end of the six month journey, the Nets cycled through 25 players, including four starters were not on the team back on Oct. 19 when the season tipped off with a blowout loss to the New Orleans Pelicans and a time that was so long ago, the Yankees were playing Game 1 of their ill-fated ALCS against the eventual champion Houston Astros.

That loss was part of an ugly 2-6 start that led to Steve Nash being replaced as coach by Jacque Vaughn on Nov. 1. It also came in the midst of the saga involving Kyrie Irving eventually being suspended for eight games for using twitter to publicize what the Nets said was a film “containing deeply disturbing antisemitic hate” and in the same statement described him as being unfit to be associated with the team.

Eventually Irving returned and the Nets went on a 12-game winning streak as part of an 18-2 stretch that vaulted them to the top of the Eastern Conference. Then came the collision when Durant bumped knees with Jimmy Butler in Miami Jan. 8, resulting in his second straight season being interrupted with a knee injury.

Durant was inching closer to returning when the Nets reached Feb. 3, what seemed like a quiet Friday two days before the Super Bowl. Except it blew up when Irving submitted his trade request as the Nets tried to stay afloat.

By a few hours before the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in a thrilling Super Bowl, word circulated that Irving’s request was being granted with a deal to Dallas for Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie, whose emergence in the 42-win 2018-19 season was among the reasons the two stars were interested in pairing up with Brooklyn. A day later, the Nets officially moved on, doing so after the lighthearted moment of Vaughn responding to a question about Irving’s “calf” by saying to laughs “still sore”.

Then came the speculation of what Durant’s next move would be. Would he rehab the knee with an eye towards returning to the Nets after the All-Star break or would he request a trade for a second time?

By 1 am on Feb. 9 and about 14 hours before the trade deadline ended, everyone had their answers with reports of Durant being sent to Phoenix for best friends Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson along with a handful of draft picks.

Bridges sat in the stands worried if he would his first game of his career but since he was ruled trade pending it did not count. Two days later, the Nets learned how personable of a player Bridges is when he gave an entertaining and interesting pregame interview and then the new era with a three-point loss to the 76ers in a game that ended when Dinwiddie’s 3 was too late.

By his third game with the Nets, Bridges began showing more than enough offensive talents with a 45-point showing that proved even more pivotal since it was in one of the three wins over the Heat that swept the season series and kept the Nets from being a play-in team.

Bridges had plenty of moments with three 40-point games and 11 games with at least 30. Still being in the top-six was not assured and the Nets dropped into a play-in with a five-game losing streak where they seemingly were unable to score consistently. Their situation was about to become more dire March 25 when they faced a 14-point deficit in the first half at Miami, but they began the road to sixth with a remarkable turnaround after halftime that became a 129-100 win.

And with one game to play, the Nets officially clinched, prompting Game 82 to be nothing more than something they had to participate in because it was scheduled.

“I’m extremely proud of this group,” Vaughn said. “It’s the way we were able to stay together the entire year and create our own narrative. This group just
just
endured. We chose courage over comfort many times.”

Whether the Nets possess enough to compete with the Sixers remains to be seen but getting the opportunity to do so is better than the alternative of watching from home and lamenting a season gone wrong like what happened in Dallas where the Mavericks went 9-18 after their big trade.