The dream was brief but fleeting: with a 93-87 loss to the Toronto Raptors Sunday afternoon, the Brooklyn Nets have officially locked into the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Had the Nets, now 47-33, won their remaining games, and the Indiana Pacers lost their remaining games, the Nets would’ve earned the third seed. The Pacers did their part, losing to the New York Knicks today, but the Nets couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. The loss also guarantees that the Nets will not win 50 games this year.
As the fourth seed, the Nets are set to play either the Atlanta Hawks or Chicago Bulls, the only two teams in the Eastern Conference whose playoff seeding are yet to be determined. They still hold home-court advantage in the first round.
