Brooklyn Nets Benefitting From Tight Eastern Conference Standings

The Brooklyn Nets haven’t had a great start, but some of the rest of the Eastern Conference hasn’t either.

On Wednesday night, the Nets secured their second win of the young season with a 114-104 win against the Charlotte Hornets. Moving Brooklyn to 2-6 for the year, the team appears like it might be ready to turn a corner after an abysmal 0-5 start. 

In years past, an 0-5 start could derail a season before it even hits November. While that could still have been the case for Brooklyn this season, it’s started to string together some solid performances. 

Having some tight losses in those first few games could sting down the line, but the Nets’ path into the postseason is still a clear one. With 74 more regular season games on the horizon, Brooklyn isn’t exactly in a spot to be talking about the postseason picture, but it’s something that will likely be on the team’s mind throughout the year. 

Given the Nets’ tough start, it would be reasonable to believe that the team has a big hole to dig itself out of. Instead, it’s tied in the loss column for the ninth seed. The Nets’ 2-1 stretch this week has put them in a position to keep chasing their goals without much pressure at this point. 

Sure, Brooklyn has plenty of flaws that could keep it from reaching the postseason or even being in that conversation when March and April roll around. However, that can be said about every other team around the Nets in the standings. 

With Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle steadily figuring things out for themselves and as a duo, the Nets should only get better from here as long as they don’t deal with any major injuries. Considering that most of the team is quite young, that could be a spot where they have a leg up on the teams they’ll be competing with for a play-in spot. 

Over the next several weeks, teams will begin to separate themselves a bit in the standings, and Brooklyn will hope to find itself in the midst of that postseason race when the calendar turns to 2027. As Brooklyn navigates a four-game road trip over the next week or so, it will be hoping to avoid another losing streak and instead build on winning two of its past three matchups.

Only time will tell where the Nets end up this season, but Brookln’s slow start hasn’t put it in a bad spot, thanks to a wild bottom half of the Eastern Conference.