On Friday, there was some movement in the NBA Eastern Conference standings. The Atlanta Hawks surpassed both the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers, stripping away the title of worst team in the East — even if it’s only temporary. They accomplish this by knocking off the Brooklyn Nets, who dropped to eighth in the standings, while the Orlando Magic took over as the No. 7 team in the Eastern Conference.
But the Nets didn’t simply lose to the Hawks. They gave up the most points they’ve surrendered to any team since 1988. Needless to say, an unsettling outcome given what Brooklyn has ahead.
“If you don’t feel embarrassed after losing to a team that we beat three times — beat by quite a large margin last time — they came out and embarrassed us,” Garrett Temple told reporters in Atlanta, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “Orlando passed us up, so if we don’t have an edge for the next 23 games we’re in the wrong sport. Just a matter of us trying to win as many games as we can for this playoff push. This is a wake-up call for us.”
Brooklyn visits the Miami Heat on Saturday, then the Boston Celtics on Tuesday. So, not only will the Nets have a hard time re-taking that No. 7 spot in the East, but they might also allow the ninth-place Washington Wizards (five games back) to close the gap.
“If we continue playing like we’ve been playing, we won’t be in the playoffs, period, point-blank,” Temple said. “That’s our goal, to make the playoffs. But we have to change something. We have to compete at the end of the day, or we’ll be sitting at home watching.”