Believe it or not, the Nets are back in the playoffs

Brooklyn Tops Orlando, Gets Help From Indiana in Season Finale

April 16, 2015 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Rookie Bojan Bogdanovic scored a career-high 28 points as the Nets completed their chase for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth Wednesday night in Downtown Brooklyn. The Nets will visit the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks Sunday for the opener of a best-of-seven first-round playoff series. AP photo

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Atlanta, here we come.

The Brooklyn Nets are playoff bound for a third consecutive season since their arrival in our fair borough, thanks to a furious fourth-quarter comeback in their regular-season finale against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, and some much-needed help from the Memphis Grizzlies, of all teams.

Rookie Bojan Bogdanovic poured in a career-high 28 points as the Nets used a 26-13 fourth-quarter spurt to rally past the hapless Magic, 101-88, in front of 17,098 playoff-hopeful fans at Downtown’s Barclays Center.

But that was only half the story.

Needing a victory by Memphis over Indiana, the Nets (38-44) turned into spectators.

And what they saw was quite pleasing.

The Grizzlies, who fired Hollins following a 56-win season and berth in the Western Conference Finals just two years ago, topped the Pacers, 95-83, giving Brooklyn the eighth and final playoff spot in the East based on the Nets’ head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over Indiana.

So a tumultuous and at-times deeply disappointing season has suddenly turned into a golden opportunity for the Nets to take on the top-seeded Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs, beginning Sunday in Atlanta.

“I am just thankful that our guys stepped up and did what they had to do,’’ said a relieved Hollins even before the team that shunned him sent his new squad into the postseason “That is the only thing that they had control of.’’

Joe Johnson and Thaddeus Young scored 16 points apiece, Brook Lopez added 14 and Deron Williams added 10 points and seven assists for Brooklyn, which will begin the season anew with a fresh 0-0 slate this weekend against the mighty Hawks.

Atlanta beat Brooklyn in all four meetings this season, dominating the first three encounters before eking out a 114-111 victory here on April 8.

But when it comes to the playoffs, the past is simply prologue, according to Young.

“Last time we played [the Hawks] pretty good,” noted the power forward, whose acquisition at the trade deadline helped spur Brooklyn to a strong finish. “We went down to the wire. If we could play them the way we played them the last time, just moving the ball, giving them a taste of their own medicine, when we’re just moving, driving, kicking, the ball starts sticking to everybody’s hands. We’re just executing and I think we’ll be fine in the series.”

Being in the series at all must come as a huge relief to the Nets’ organization as a whole.

Armed with the largest payroll in the sport, Brooklyn endured injuries to several notable contributors and a season-long malaise before turning things around in March and early April.

The surprising playoff three-peat even prompted Nets and Barclays Center CEO to pen an open letter to Brooklyn hoops fanatics:

Dear Nets Fan,

WE ARE PLAYOFFS! Only in Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Nets are thrilled to be part of the NBA Playoffs for the third consecutive year. The Nets will tip off on the road against the Atlanta Hawks in the First Round on Sunday, April 19 in Atlanta.

We want to thank the Brooklyn community and our entire fan base for your unwavering support. You are instrumental in the team’s success and have helped us advance to the playoffs each year we’ve been in the borough.

Brooklyn is the only place to catch playoff basketball in New York and we are excited to see you at Barclays Center.

Though they will doubtlessly be listed as a heavy underdog against the Hawks, the Nets now have a chance to rewrite history.

“We’ve all seen thing strange things happen in the playoffs because it’s different than the regular season,’’ said Jarrett Jack, who had nine points and five assists off the bench Wednesday night

“It comes down to matchups and who’s playing well and who has momentum,” he added. “When you get into the playoffs like we did, that’s a lot of momentum right there.’’

As many as 3 ½ games out of the final two playoffs spots just over a month ago, the Nets rallied to win 12 of their next 16 games, grabbing the No. 7 seed. But Brooklyn dropped two in a row to Milwaukee and Chicago, respectively, forcing it to win Wednesday and hope for help from Memphis on the season’s final night.

Now, the only scoreboard the Nets will have to watch is the one they’ll be playing beneath Sunday at Atlanta’s Philips Arena.

“We hadn’t played well the last couple of games but we found ourselves tonight and if we can get back to playing the kind of ball we’ve been playing since the All Star Break, the skies the limit for this team,’’ said Young.

“Anything can happen in the playoffs. Anything.’’

“Everybody is 0-0 and then you wipe your hands clean and then you give it another go,” added Johnson.

See you Sunday.

Nothing But Net: Games 3 and 4 of the Hawks series will be at Barclays Center, with Game 3 slated for Saturday, April 25 at 3 p.m. Game 4 will be Monday, April 27, and Game 6, if necessary, will be here on May 1. … Though his team has yet to beat Atlanta this season, Hollins knows there must be a way to topple the Hawks, who finished an Eastern Conference-best 60-22 this year. “They’re the second-best team in the NBA, record-wise. They’ve shot the ball extremely well all year,” Hollins told the Associated Press. “When they lose they don’t shoot the ball well. We’ve got to figure out how to make them shoot the ball a little bit less then what they normally do and control the glass and score.”