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NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets made sure a season that started turbulently will end in the playoffs.
Not only that, they did it with a better record and seeding than last season, even after trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
“This group just endured,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “I mean, we chose to be courageous over comfort many times and that’s hard to do in this league.”
Mikal Bridges scored 22 points and the Nets, shortly after clinching the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, beat the Orlando Magic 101-84 on Friday night.
The Nets no longer needed the victory by the time the game was over, having wrapped up a playoff spot when Miami lost at Washington while their game was in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn earned the final guaranteed spot in the East and will face the No. 3 Philadelphia 76ers in the first round.
First, those teams meet on Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn for what is now a meaningless regular-season finale.
The Nets lost their star power when they dealt Durant and Irving in February. But the players they brought back have recent postseason success, with Bridges and Cameron Johnson playing for Phoenix in the 2021 NBA Finals, and Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith helping Dallas reach the West finals last year.
“Now again, we have to come together, new system, new city, all of the other stuff, so it’s not going to be an easy task by any stretch, and they have the probable MVP,” Dinwiddie said, referring to the Sixers and Joel Embiid. “So again, like I said, there’s an appropriate respect. Give Philly their credit, but at the same time, we do feel like we belong in that arena.”
Bridges was 1-for-12 from 3-point range and fellow starting guard Dinwiddie was 0-for-6 on a night both teams were miserable behind the arc. But Johnson scored 18 points, Nic Claxton finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds, while Dinwiddie had 14 assists and seven rebounds.
The Nets replaced coach Steve Nash with Vaughn after starting 1-5, traded Durant…
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