The Nets entered Friday night's game against Charlotte just a half-game behind the Hornets in the Eastern Conference standings. The two teams were actually part of a crowd of six teams with between 13 and 17 wins, holding down the sixth through 11th spots in the conference standings.
A win offered the possibility of the Nets moving up into sixth place going into Saturday night's game in Milwaukee against the Bucks, but despite the 100-87 loss, the Nets are still tied with the Hornets for the sixth most wins in the conference with 17.
A string of nine wins in 11 games through last night elevated the Nets into that group, but before the Nets departed Thursday for their return game with the Hornets, coach Kenny Atkinson wasn't thinking about jockeying for position in a home-and-home set against a team that could be competition for a playoff spot down the road.
"I just don't think we've done enough to start talking about bigger things," said Atkinson. "We've got to focus on next game and Milwaukee and then New Orleans. Maybe that's just my mentality. I'm fine with the players thinking differently. Everyone's got their way of looking at things. But we haven't talked about, 'hey, this is an important game' or two games."
STRETCHING THE ROTATION
Allen Crabbe has missed Brooklyn's last eight games due to knee soreness. During Crabbe's absence, the Nets have mostly gone with a nine-man rotation. With the Nets on the road Friday night after a double-overtime game 48 hours earlier, Kenny Atkinson turned to guard Shabazz Napier in the third quarter.
Napier had played in just three of Brooklyn's previous 10 games, but he made all five of his shots, finished with 11 points, and helped bring the Nets back within five points in the fourth quarter after they trailed by as much as 20 in the first quarter.
"He brought us back in the game," said Atkinson.
The Nets will be in Milwaukee Saturday evening for the second half of a back-to-back, with an early start time of 5:00 p.m. Crabbe had his first full practice since being sidelined on Thursday.
"We've got to bready for this early back to back and think about using more of our roster," said Atkinson.
DUDLEY A CRUNCH-TIME KEY
When the Nets went to two overtimes against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, veteran forward Jared Dudley ended up playing 36 minutes, tied for his second longest outing of the season. That included all of the fourth quarter and both overtimes when both teams went with small-ball lineups.
It was similar to Dudley's finishing stretch against the Lakers a week earlier, a game in which he finished with 13 points including 10 in the fourth quarter. That was two days after he scored a season-high 16 points against Atlanta.
The 33-year-old began the season starting Brooklyn's first 20 games, but before Allen Crabbe was sidelined with a knee injury two weeks ago, his minutes had been shrinking a bit. Dudley's averaging 21.8 minutes per game this season, but during a four-game stretch through Dec. 14, he played just 13.5 per game.
But over the last two weeks, Dudley's been playing some of his strongest ball of the season, his minutes are back to their previous levels, and Atkinson finds his experience a helpful factor in crunch-time.
"With Allen out, we're playing nine guys," said Kenny Atkinson. "His basketball IQ aids our, especially in the fourth-quarter, end-of-game stuff. We don't have five guys under 25 years old out there. We have a guy that has a lot of experience, and I think that's helping us. I think if you say, 'well, what's one of the reasons you think your fourth quarter and end of game has gotten better?' I think he's a part of that. I do think he helps. His IQ helps the rest of the guys play better, quite honestly."
ABOUT THE BUCKS
The Bucks are 24-10, the second best record in the Eastern Conference, and have won six of their last seven. Milwaukee leads the NBA with its 8.4 net rating while ranking third in defensive rating (103.9) and fourth in offensive rating (112.3). The Bucks lead the NBA in 2-point field goal percentage (57.1) and are also second in total 3-pointers made (460) and per game (13.5) due to a high volume behind the arc -- they're second in 3-point field goal attempts per game (35.3). Milwaukee leads the league in overall rebounding (50.2 per game) and is fourth in blocks (6.1). Former Net Brook Lopez is a major part of Milwaukee's deep shooting attack, taking 6.7 threes per game and making 35.4 percent while averaging 11.9 points per game. Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the Bucks in points (26.5) and rebounds (12.8), ranking in the top 10 in the NBA in both categories. Antetokounmpo also leads Milwaukee in assists (5.9) and steals (1.3) and is second with 1.5 blocks per game behind Lopez (1.9).