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INDIANAPOLIS – Brooklyn Nets coach Kenny Atkinson has not been told that his team could play in the playoffs. This is understandable, given that the Nets have not participated in the playoffs since the 2014-15 season.
Atkinson no longer has to worry about using the word because the Nets got a playoff spot by beating a team from Indiana Pacers who had won nine straight wins against them . Brooklyn dominated 108-96 on Sunday.
"I'm just happy with the way we did it," Atkinson said. "Here, against a tough team from Indiana, on the road, on a back-to-back, with which we had struggled in the past." Just a wonderful way to qualify for the playoffs. another level of concentration, being locked in. They wanted it so much, extra energy. "
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D'Angelo Russell scored 20 points and Joe Harris added 19 on Sunday, bringing the Brooklyn Nets to a 108-96 victory over the Indiana Pacers and bringing them back to the NBA playoffs for the first time in four years .
It was not easy to return to the playoffs for the Nets. Atkinson and General Manager Sean Marks have rebuilt the franchise without having the luxury of being among the top five picks or signing a free heavyweight agent. They did it with intelligent staff movements and the development of players such as the leader D'Angelo Russell, who made his first star appearance this season.
These efforts have paid off for the Nets, who have gone from 20 wins in Atkinson's first season in 2016-17 to 28 games last season to a win of at least 41 games this season.
"I've lost a lot in this league and I've finally been able to get a glimpse of what the playoffs are going to be, I'm excited," Russell said.
Atkinson refused to recognize the idea of ​​participating in the playoffs throughout the season. That's understandable, given that the Nets looked more like a lottery team than a playoff team when they started the 8-18 season, which included a series of seven-game defeats over of this sequence. The players began to see the potential when they responded to the losing streak with eight straight wins, including two against the Toronto Raptors and the Philadelphia 76ers in the playoffs in December.
Atkinson finally began to believe that he already had a playoff team, despite the fact that Brooklyn got a 2-5 record during that period.
"As if I had told them the old story: no one thought you could do it," Atkinson said. "I think these are the best moments of the sport, winning a championship, proving that everyone is wrong, the prognosis, even their head coach, they've even proven otherwise. I did not know that before I knew this group of guys over there, and as the season progressed, it was possible. "
The Nets wanted to participate in the playoffs without relying on the help of the other teams. They took the first step by beating the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday. Then they eliminated the Pacers by scoring the first nine points of the match. get 20 points from Russell and 19 points from Joe Harris; and dominating Indiana at his own game by overtaking the Pacers by 19.
The Nets will finish as the sixth or seventh head of the bill in the East. The Pacers' defeat was their second game in a row and officially locked them in the fifth group in which they will face the Boston Celtics in the first round.
"It was better not to lose someone else," said Nets striker Jared Dudley. "We controlled our own fate, came on a trip and beat Milwaukee, beat Indiana, it was satisfying."
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