As the Brooklyn Nets made their playoff drive, they knew the degree of difficulty they would face with their schedule in the last few weeks, especially with the final weekend.

After getting a dramatic win over the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, the Nets conclude a critical back-to-back set Sunday when they visit the Indiana Pacers, who will likely be the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.

"It says a lot about the team and the organization," Nets forward DeMarre Carroll said. "We just keep fighting and fighting. We don't want to stop here. We want to try to go to Indiana and pick up another one."

The Nets (40-40) enter Sunday in sixth place in the East. Though they share the same record as Orlando, they won two of three meetings with the Magic to claim the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Brooklyn also is a half-game ahead of the Detroit Pistons, who they beat in two of three meetings to get the tiebreaker. The Nets also are 1 1/2 games ahead of Miami, which they do not own the tiebreaker against and host on Wednesday.

Brooklyn is in the midst of a stretch where they are playing the top five teams in the East and it is 2-3 in the six-game stretch. The Nets are in better position because they were able to make the plays down the stretch in the 133-128 win at Milwaukee.

D'Angelo Russell scored 25 points while Caris LeVert added 24 but ultimately Joe Harris hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:24 left to give the Nets their biggest win to date.

"Tough one [Sunday] night," Harris said. "It's a difficult back-to-back. The approach has to be the same. Obviously, we are fortunate to come away with a win today, but all the focus is on Indiana now. We'll try to get another one, and just establish ourselves and feel comfortable considering the playoff positioning." >> Read More

Popular in the Community