LOS ANGELES – The Brooklyn Nets booked a National Basketball Association play-off berth on Friday, as the Eastern Conference puzzle pieces fell into place. But suspense remained in the wild West with wins for Golden State, New Orleans and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Nets beat the Orlando Magic 101-84 and clinched the sixth seed in the East, avoiding the play-in tournament in which the teams placed seventh to 10th will fight for two remaining play-off berths.
Having lost wantaway All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in mid-season, Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said: “This group just endured. I mean, we chose to be courageous over comfort many times and that’s hard to do.”
The Nets actually knew they had secured the spot in the fourth quarter of the contest – when the Miami Heat fell 114-108 to the Washington Wizards to finish seventh in the East.
The Heat, clearly content to headline the play-in, rested six of their top players – including Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro – a strategy repeated around the league by both play-off-bound teams and those already eliminated.
Even with the boost from Miami, the Nets had reason to celebrate their guaranteed berth in a tumultuous season that saw coach Steve Nash sacked after a stumbling start and Irving suspended in an anti-Semitism row.
All that before the stunning trades of Irving and superstar Durant in February.
“I think it speaks to the character of the group, the maturity and just the selflessness,” said Spencer Dinwiddie, who returned to Brooklyn from Dallas in the trade for Irving.
Atlanta clinched eighth place in the East despite a 136-131 overtime loss to the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers, thanks to Boston’s 121-102 victory over Toronto.
The Chicago Bulls rested DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine but rallied to beat the depleted Dallas Mavericks 115-112. Last season’s Western Conference finalists abandoned their slim hopes of making the play-in, as they held out Irving and four other key players – and pulled star Luka Doncic after the first quarter.
Dallas’ defeat handed a play-in berth to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Elsewhere in the West, the Lakers beat the play-off-bound Phoenix Suns 121-107 and the Pelicans downed the New York Knicks 113-105 to maintain their faint hopes of escaping the play-in.
The Warriors, led by 29 points from Klay Thompson and 25 from Stephen Curry, moved a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers for fifth in the West with a 119-97 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
“I don’t see a team who can beat us in a seven-game series when we’re healthy,” warned Thompson.
The Memphis Grizzlies clinched the second seed, ahead of Sacramento, with a 137-114 victory over a Milwaukee Bucks team who rested half a dozen stars, including Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Jaren Jackson Jr, who scored 36 points for the Grizzlies, said: “These games are important. Especially down the stretch in the Western Conference.” AFP
