Inside The Nets

Brooklyn Nets' Mikal Bridges Finds Silver Lining in In-Season Tournament Setback

Bridges isn’t frustrated about the Nets' failed campaign to reach In-Season knockouts.

Peter Sunjic

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The Brooklyn Nets did everything they could on Tuesday night to notch the win and be able to march toward the In-Season Tournament knockout stage.

The good thing, they did the former by outlasting the Toronto Raptors. But the latter wasn't; the Boston Celtics took Group C by pounding the Chicago Bulls and winning the three-team tiebreaker via point differential, while the New York Knicks sealed the wild-card position by topping the Nets and other second-placed teams in every East group via point differential.

Valuable lesson for Brooklyn

In the end, what mattered the most for the Nets was the lessons and extra win which they can use upon moving forward to the 2023-24 regular season. For Bridges, he sees the failure of not making it to the quarterfinals as a stepping stone to their vision.

Might be disappointing about the result, but Mikal still holds his head high that Brooklyn managed to gain positives and needed confidence as they continue their journey this season.

“We got guys playing hard and want to go to Vegas. We were pretty not being able to go but it just brings a little more [competitiveness] every night,” he said. “There's a lot of games that might be better if it's the reason for competitiveness, maybe like mid-season, like early season everybody's trying to win games, everybody's going to be competitive… It looks like pretty good right now.”

No hard feelings

Many players expressed their dissatisfaction about teams racking up points for point differential to enhance their chances to enter the In-Season playoffs. But amid being a victim of that with the Nets, Bridges sees no issue about it.

Bridges understands the desire why many teams employ this enticing strategy as it only promotes their desire to make it to the Elite 8 of the tournament.

“You just know what the reason is, it’s trying to make it to Vegas. There’s no harm at all. We know that point differential is a key besides just winning. If you win every game by one and other teams win every game by five you’re not gonna make it. You have to play the point differential as well,” he concluded.

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Peter Sunjic
PETER SUNJIC

Peter's journey with basketball commenced in the first grade, and it has since evolved into an integral part of his life. Standing on the brink of a potential professional playing career, Peter ultimately chose to pursue a degree in Political Science and Journalism in Zagreb, Croatia. Despite this academic pursuit, his deep-rooted love for the game of basketball endured, undiminished. Now, as a writer and editor, Peter finds an avenue to channel his unwavering passion for basketball-related news and analysis. Whether it's deciphering the latest happenings or delving into the lore of old-school basketball, he covers every corner of the NBA world.

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