PHILADELPHIA — The Nets had a five-game cushion for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot two months ago, but have watched that edge sliced to just 1½ games.

Coach Kenny Atkinson isn’t going to watch any more — he’s more concerned with winning.

“It’s funny. It’ll drive you batty. I made a decision — I’m not going to go back and forth, watch scores and watch the standings,” Atkinson said. “We’re all tight. We look at it from the Nets’ perspective. Every game is a playoff game for us right now. It’s just what it is.

“You know the standings, but even when teams were even more of a distance away I never felt secure. I’ve been saying that all long, I’ve felt it’s going to go down to the wire. Those teams are playing well. I just think we have to focus on ourselves and try to get some wins in these last games.”

True enough. Atkinson, an admitted worrier, months ago was fretting over the brutal seven-game road trip the Nets finally will finish Thursday night against the 76ers.

Even on Jan. 26, when the Nets had a 2 ½-game lead for sixth in the Eastern Conference and a five-game edge on the last playoff spot, he warned they weren’t safe. And they’re not.

The Nets, still in sixth place, are a half-game ahead of the Pistons, one ahead of the Magic, who have won six straight, and 1 ½ games clear of the Heat. They own the tiebreaker on Detroit and Orlando and host Miami, which they trail 2-1 in the season series, in the season finale.

DeMarre Carroll seems likely to get his third straight start because Allen Crabbe (sore right knee) will miss a sixth straight game.

After Caris LeVert started the first three in Crabbe’s absence, Carroll got the nod in the next two. Carroll had 15 points and six rebounds versus the Lakers on Friday in his first start of the season, and had 18 points and five boards in an encore Monday against the Trail Blazers.

“I like it,” Atkinson said. “It’s two games, we’ll continue to monitor it; but very, very pleased with where our rotation is right now. … I like where we are rotation-wise right now.”

The Sixers’ Ben Simmons is expected to return from his stomach ailment Thursday. He missed Monday’s game, when the Sixers went almost 12 minutes without a basket and lost to the Magic.

Tobias Harris, whom Atkinson has known since the Sixers forward’s Long Island schoolboy days, is averaging 20.4 points this season, and had 27 in his only game versus the Nets.

“Supremely skilled offensively,” Atkinson said. “It’s amazing his progress since he’s gotten in the league, where he started and where he is now. “He’s so much more versatile than he’s been before. He’s not just a catch-and-shoot guy. He can catch and shoot, he can play pick-and-roll and his pick-and-roll game is really improving. He can go in the post. He’s really a versatile, versatile player — can play the four, the three, the two. So just a huge matchup for us.”