The Brooklyn Nets had a chance to snag, momentarily, the final Play-In Tournament spot on Monday evening, 57 games into a season that was supposed to be an indestructible tank.
The half-dead, 12-seed Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn’s most recent victim, would need to defeat the 10-seed Chicago Bulls at home, while the Nets traveled to Washington to take on the league’s worst team.
Surely, the Nets wouldn’t take the Wizards lightly. After all, the only blemish on their defense during this excellent month-long run is a 119-102 loss to the Wizards at home, after which Jordi Fernández was highly critical of his team.