The Brooklyn Nets are ranked as the 13th-best team in the NBA in Bleacher Report’s most recent power rankings. The last time that B/R did its power rankings, the Nets were ranked as the 16th-best team in the league. Interestingly, Brooklyn is ranked ahead of the 14th-ranked Minnesota Timberwolves and the 12th-ranked Golden State Warriors.
With regards to playoff seeding, the Nets are the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and would be the last time to make the playoffs outright if the season ended today. However, Brooklyn is two behind the fifth-seeded New York Knicks and 1.5 games ahead of the seventh-seeded Miami Heat. With 12 games left in their season, Brooklyn has to end the season on a strong note if they want to avoid the play-in tournament portion.
Six of the Nets’ 11 opponents to finish the season (they play the Cleveland Cavaliers twice as part of a home-and-home series) are currently in the playoffs outright or are in the play-in tournament in their respective conference. While Brooklyn carries its two-game losing streak into Sunday’s matchup against the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets, the Nets have beaten the Nuggets before. Here’s what B/R had to say about the Nets’ ranking on the list:
“It’s taken some time to get a handle on how the new-look Brooklyn Nets will look, which is why they’ve bounced around the rankings over the last few weeks.
What’s become clear, though, is that Brooklyn has enough talent to compete, as evidenced by a 2-2 week (and a 5-3 record over the Nets’ last eight).
With Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale, this roster has tons of versatility on defense.
While his three-point shot has abandoned him (he’s at 29.5 percent from deep since the trade), Spencer Dinwiddie has looked comfortable in his return to the lead playmaker role. Through 15 games with Brooklyn, Dinwiddie is putting up 18.1 points and 7.8 assists.”
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Story originally appeared on Nets Wire