The Nets will have to wait until the conclusion of the final night of the regular season to know who they are going to be playing when the playoffs begin in Brooklyn for the first time this weekend. And, regardless of who you think the Nets would be better off facing between their two possible opponents, the Hawks and Bulls, whichever team it is will likely have a pretty big impact on how they play the series.
Here’s a breakdown of both ways it could go:
If the Nets play the Bulls:
Right now, the most likely scenario is that the Nets will play the Bulls, given that all they have to do is win a game against a hapless Wizards team that is playing out the string and lost to the Nets’ backups on Monday in Brooklyn, or have the Hawks, who appeared to be tanking out of the five seed in Tuesday’s loss to Toronto, lose to the Knicks at the Garden Wednesday night.
But if the Nets do play the Bulls, it would do the least to impact their typical rotation, and the way they have played ever since interim coach P.J. Carlesimo took over for Avery Johnson back in late December. Carlesimo has made it clear he has a preference to play big, and has primarily played with two big men – some combination of Brook Lopez, Reggie Evans, Andray Blatche and Kris Humphries – on the floor at all times, with primarily Gerald Wallace playing at small forward.
Against the Bulls, who will be playing a combination of Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson (assuming Noah and Gibson are healthy enough to play) the vast majority of Chicago’s minutes at power forward and center, that practice will continue against the Bulls. Also, despite the tenacious defense the Bulls play and their core of very good players, including those three and Luol Deng, Jimmy Butler and Kirk Hinrich, even with Derrick Rose sidelined, the Bulls also play at a very slow pace like the Nets, which wouldn’t force them to change much of how they play.
If the Nets play the Hawks:
As I said at the top, it’s more likely the Nets play the Bulls than the Hawks, as Atlanta needs to beat the Knicks and have Chicago lose after the Hawks were awful against the Raptors Tuesday. That said, if the Nets do wind up facing the Hawks, it would lead to some interesting matchups that would likely force them to change several things about the way they’ve been playing for much of the season.
Especially after they lost center Zaza Pachulia to season-ending surgery to repair a partially torn Achilles, the Hawks are rolling out a small lineup much of the time, with Al Horford playing center and Josh Smith playing power forward. That combination would give the Nets some difficulties, as Smith isn’t a great matchup for Evans or Humphries to go up against.
Instead, it would probably lead them to play more lineups with Wallace sliding down to power forward, with Keith Bogans or Jerry Stackhouse in the lineup at small forward. It would also likely mean that Stackhouse, who I expect to play a role in the team’s playoff rotation regardless of who they play, getting minutes over Humphries because of Atlanta’s smaller rotation.
The Hawks would also have the potential to make the Nets play much faster than they are used to. The Hawks average a little less than 95 possessions per game, which is the 13th fastest pace in the NBA this season, and about four possessions a game faster than the Nets, who rank 29th.
tbontemps@nypost.com
