The Nets made the second-biggest jump in the NBA’s Eastern Conference last season, but coach Kenny Atkinson knows it could’ve been much bigger if they hadn’t given away so many games late. Learning to close out those nail-biters may be their biggest goal as Atkinson enters his third — and arguably most pivotal — season as coach.
“The hardest thing to do in pro sports is to close games,” Atkinson told The Post from the Nets’ youth camp in Southampton. “But I do look at it as a positive. We were in a ton of close games: We just have to do a better job of closing.