The Brooklyn Nets aren’t quite down to counting their magic number for clinching the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2015 (but that number is seven, if anyone was curious), but Friday night’s game at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Lakers presents an interesting opportunity for the Nets.
The Lakers enter play Friday with a tragic number of just one and a loss to the Nets would officially eliminate Los Angeles from playoff contention for a franchise-record sixth straight season.
In 70 seasons in the NBA and its predecessor, the Basketball Association of America, the Lakers have been to the postseason 60 times and before the franchise’s current string of futility had only failed to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons once — in 1975 and 1976.