Nets still in play for top playoff seed in East

It's been a season filled with unforseen twists and turns for the mega-talented, but injury-riddled Brooklyn Nets. Whether it's been Kyrie Irving coming and going for personal reasons, James Harden missing five weeks with an aggravated hamstring or Kevin Durant's stop and go campaign due to Covid-19 protocol, the NBA's most feared trio looks to finally be gearing up to all be on the same page and same court in time for the playoffs. The Harden trade, another heist pulled off by Sean Marks, was a major impetus for the Nets eventual rise to surpass Philadelphia as the conference"s best team record-wise.

Prior the a four-game losing streak that spanned late-April and early-May, Brooklyn held a slim lead over the Sixer for the East's top spot. A loss to Portland without Durant and Harden in the lineup, followed by consecutive losses to Milwaukee then Dallas coupled with a Philly hot streak, saw them leapfrog the Nets for the top spot. Suddenly, Milwaukee had won the tiebreaker over Brooklyn and currently sits one back of it in the loss column. The Nets need to win their final two games against Chicago and Cleveland to guarantee no worse than the two spot, and if Philadelphia loses Thursday to Miami followed consecutive meetings with Orlando to round out the year, the Nets could be sitting pretty after a tumultuous regular season.