April 15 marks the beginning of perhaps the most important postseason in Sixers history. As hyperbolic as that sounds, an underwhelming dismissal could be catastrophic to the sustainability of this era, potentially catalyzing multiple significant departures from the team. Will Doc Rivers be around to see another season through if the Sixers don’t get over their perpetual second-round hump? Will James Harden stay to keep the core together, or will he return to Houston, the city he affectionately deems “home”? Only the outcome of these playoffs will tell. It all starts with the Brooklyn Nets.
The 3-seeded Sixers finished the season with a record of 54-28, the franchise’s best result since 2001 when Allen Iverson led Philadelphia to the NBA finals. The Sixers outscored opponents by 4.3 points per 100 possessions, the fifth best net rating in the NBA, according to Cleaning The Glass. Philadelphia ranked third in offense, and 10th in defense.
On the other side, you won’t find a team whose season was more in flux than the Nets. Brooklyn did most of its heavy lifting ahead of the trade deadline, a week that saw the Nets trade both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. The remnants of the Nets — or, shall we say the return on those two blockbuster trades — barely hung on to finish as the 6-seed, narrowly avoiding the play-in tournament.
For the purposes of this preview, assume all discussion of the Nets is focused on the 27 games they played with the post-deadline roster unless stated otherwise. That is, all Nets data used here is from the time frame between February 10 (the day after the trade deadline) and April 10 (the day after the end of the regular season).
The Nets went 12-15 since Mikal Bridges’ debut, a 36-win pace. They were outscored by 2 points per 100 possessions, a net rating that ranked 22nd in the NBA during that span, according to Cleaning The Glass. Brooklyn finished 23rd in offense and 16th in defense.
Brooklyn’s three best lineups
I suppose there is no better indicator of just how little sample size there is to draw from with these Nets than by looking at their lineup data. Between February 10 and April 10, the new-look team has just one lineup that has played at least 100 minutes. In fact, that lineup has played way more than 100 minutes. Funny enough, Jacque Vaughn has put just two…
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