Beijing time on April 3, 2022, the NBA regular season ushered in a focus battle, the Atlanta Hawks sat at home to usher in the challenge of the Brooklyn Nets, the victory or defeat of this game will be directly related to what kind of ranking the two teams will play in the playoffs, both sides are determined to win! After four quarters of competition, the Hawks finally defeated the Nets 122-115, winning five consecutive games while also improving their record to the eighth position in the East, and after the Nets lost this game, the record has fallen to the tenth place in the East.
In terms of player statistics, Durant scored a game-high 55 points plus 7 rebounds and 3 assists, Irving also had 31 points and 6 assists, and the "711" combination cut 86 points and still failed to lead the team to win! Enough to show how bad this Nets team is now, the two superstars have done well enough, helpless teammates can provide very little help, the highest score among the remaining players is rookie Edwards, but only 9 points are in the account. You can't ask Durant and Irving to do better, but when they play like this, they still can't lead the team to win, it's very worrying, even if the Nets finally make the playoffs, it will be difficult to go further.
In addition, the team's head coach Nash revealed a big bad news to the outside world, in an interview, he mentioned that the current team's new signing Simmons can only do some shooting practice, and even can not run. At present, the regular season is coming to an end, and according to Simmons's current situation, there is not much chance of a comeback, and it is difficult to say whether Simmons can be seen wearing a Nets jersey in the playoffs. The Nets now urgently need Simmons' organization to liberate Durant and Irving, and also need his defensive ability on the flanks to help the team fill the gaps in the defensive end, if Simmons can not return in time, the impact on the Nets is still quite large.
After losing to the Hawks, the Nets have fallen to tenth place in the East, which is why they must play playouts to enter the playoffs. If you enter the playoffs with the current record, the tenth-placed Nets need to play with the ninth-ranked Hornets first, win two games before they can advance, and then face the loser between the Hawks and the Cavaliers, and then through two games of victory, they can enter the playoffs as the eighth place, that is to say, if they are tenth, the team needs to win four consecutive games to enter the playoffs, and losing one game means being eliminated. It can be said that the nets are not in a better situation than the Lakers in the West!