ABSTRACT:

In their NBA history, the New Jersey Nets have won one play-off series. One. As in almost, but not quite, two. It was back in 1984.

Only one team in the East, Washington, has endured a longer drought. Go West and just the Clippers and the Kings have gone longer than the Nets without a playoff series triumph. Minnesota and the two Canadian teams, Toronto and Vancouver, never have won in the playoffs but they don’t count. They weren’t even born until the ’90s.

This is the year the Nets rewrite their history. One veteran scout, assessing the relative merits of the East, claimed Indiana is the favorite but called the Nets his “dark horse” pick. Yes, he was sober.