Brooklyn Nets' Schedule Breakdown and Record Predictions for February
January is over, and how happy are the Brooklyn Nets?
The first month of 2015 was not kind to Lionel Hollins and his boys. Brooklyn couldn't get a night off from playing one of the best teams in the NBA, lost game after game and fell out of the current playoff picture.
The 18-28 Nets sit with the Eastern Conference's ninth-best record at the moment, only one back in the loss column of the Charlotte Hornets for the No. 8 seed. Still, they're trending downwards.
Brooklyn went 3-12 in January. It hasn't won a game at home since December, finding victories only in Orlando, Washington and Sacramento since.
Now, the Nets have to worry about February, which holds some tough games for different reasons than January did. The next month may not be much fun, either.
Week of Feb. 2: At Least There's the Knicks
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Home: Los Angeles Clippers (Feb. 2), New York Knicks (Feb. 6)
Away: Toronto Raptors (Feb. 4), Washington Wizards (Feb. 7)
Predicted Record: 1-3
The Nets' seemingly impossible January schedule doesn't get much better at the start of February.
Getting dunked on by Blake Griffin is hardly a way to start off a month. So, the Nets decided to go the other route and defeat a Clippers team that trounced them by 39 points less than a month ago. Thank Jarrett Jack game-winning jumpers for that one.
That Clippers win was a rare kind for Brooklyn, who has continued a trend against good teams all year: It can't beat them.
The Nets are 4-18 against teams currently above .500. Victories against any of the Clippers, Raptors or Wizards are clearly unlikely. But the Knicks are sandwiched in there for a bit of a buffer.
It's the rivalry game of the year! Of the decade! Of the century!
Knicks-Nets. The battle of New York. Are you ready for it?
You better be—or at least, the Nets better be—because once that Knicks game is over, the schedule becomes mighty tough. That will be the last time the Nets play at Barclays during February, though maybe a long road trip won't be so bad for this team.
Tom Haberstroh put together a fascinating piece this week over at ESPN Insider on the dwindling effect of home-court advantage in the NBA. The Nets, one of the seven teams with a better road record than home one, are just another example of this.
Week of Feb. 9: No More Home Games
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Home: N/A
Away: Milwaukee Bucks (Feb. 9), Memphis Grizzlies (Feb. 10)
Predicted Record: 0-2
The journey starts with that aforementioned Wizards game on Feb. 7. It's going to seem like the Nets never go home again after that.
An eight-game road trip with this year's newly elongated All-Star break means the Nets' final home game during the month of February comes Feb. 6. Feb. 6! And after that, their February lives revolve around airplanes, hotels and mini shampoos.
The Nets' next home game after all that comes March 2, and they're fortunate enough to be welcomed home by the Golden State Warriors. Nice way to come back, huh?
This road trip doesn't start particularly well, either.
The game in Washington is quite possibly a loss.
The Bucks game brings the second time Jason Kidd will face off against his former team. The first ended in a Nets loss. It's likely the second one will too, considering it's in Milwaukee.
Then, there's the Grizzlies. In Memphis. On the second night of a back-to-back. Not good. Not good at all.
Does anyone think Brooklyn is winning that game? Anyone at all? Please, raise your hand if you believe it.
Week of Feb. 16: After the Break
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Home: N/A
Away: Los Angeles Lakers (Feb. 20)
Predicted Record: 1-0
This is where the schedule goes to die. The NBA is implementing a longer All-Star break this season, and the Nets are a major beneficiary of it, getting 10 days off in the middle of their already-long road trip.
Not all Nets are getting 10 straight vacation days, though.
Mason Plumlee will be participating in the Rising Stars Challenge and the dunk contest. Bojan Bogdanovic will join Plumlee in Friday's rookie-sophomore game. But still, the games are in New York, and there's plenty of time between those events and the Lakers game, which isn't until the Friday following All-Star weekend.
This week provides a nice break for the Nets and not just because of all their time off. The team also gets a cushy game in Los Angeles to bring them back into gameplay mode.
The Lakers are the worst team Brooklyn plays during this road trip, and considering Kobe Bryant is out for the year, the squad is only devolving.
For all the hits Kobe's production has taken this year, the Lakers are still only 3-9 without him (not that they were much better with him in the lineup).
It's already past the point of worry for Brooklyn, even in the Eastern Conference. If the Nets can't win that one, it'll be the moment to panic.
Week of Feb. 23: So Many Games, Such Little Time
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Home: N/A
Away: Denver Nuggets (Feb. 23), New Orleans Pelicans (Feb. 25), Houston Rockets (Feb. 27), Dallas Mavericks (Feb. 28)
Predicted Record: 1-3
Two light weeks have to make up at some point. Apparently, this is that point.
The two games Brooklyn has the best chance of winning are the ones in Denver and New Orleans.
The 19-29 Nuggets are trending downward and are involved in just about every trade rumor out there. It's never easy to go to Denver, play in high altitude and try to pull out a win, but it's supremely possible the Nugs' roster will be significantly thinner by Feb. 23, four days after the trade deadline.
Who knows who might be gone by then? Timofey Mozgov is already out the door. Would you really be shocked if Wilson Chandler, J.J. Hickson, Randy Foye or anyone else got shipped off to another organization? The Nets can pull off an unusual road win against a still-learning Nuggets squad.
The Pels game also offers some opportunity for the Nets. Yes, New Orleans is the better team. And yes, the inconsistent Pelicans have racked up some top-notch wins, especially at home. But they've also piled on some awful losses, like ones to the Philadelphia 76ers and Knicks.
The Nets can win one of those games. They could win two, even. They also could win none of them, continuing this treacherous slide for another month. If they drop both, it could be an especially bad week with trips to Houston and Dallas to follow.
Final Thoughts
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After a 3-12 January, you'd think February would get easier, but that's not necessarily the case.
Sure, the Nets aren't playing juggernaut after juggernaut every single game like they did during the opening month of the calendar year, but almost never being home can't be a comfortable way to go through a three-and-a-half week stretch.
So, the Nets predicted record comes out to 3-8, which would be another disastrous month for a team already 10 games under .500, bringing Brooklyn's record to 21-36. That is certainly not good enough to make the playoffs even in the weak-as-ever Eastern Conference.
The good news for the Nets is that the March schedule does clear up a tad, featuring 10 of 16 home games and 10 contests against teams under .500. The Nets could conceivably recover to a playoff spot in that stretch.
The Miami Heat and Hornets, owners of the current seventh and eighth seeds, are six and seven games under .500, respectively. And even though Charlotte is playing well of late (as are the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics), it's almost impossible for Brooklyn to fall out of the race absolutely within the next month if the East bottom feeders continue to play at the level they're at now.
The Nets have dug a hole for themselves, and they might continue to dig, but it'll be a long while before the race for the eighth seed is resolved.
Fred Katz averaged almost one point per game in fifth grade but maintains that his per-36-minute numbers were astonishing. Find more of his work on ESPN's TrueHoop Network at ClipperBlog.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FredKatz.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of Feb. 1 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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