Suddenly surging Nets clip 76ers and move closer to play-in spot

It’s not even the All-Star break yet, and the Nets have already won more games than they were predicted to all season.Get used to it, they say.This supposedly tanking team is enjoying winning, eyeing the play-in, not the lottery.The Nets beat Philadelphia, 100-96, before 16,133 at Barclays Center on Wednesday night, their sixth victory in their last seven games.It pulled the Nets (20-34) just two games behind 10th-place Chicago in the East for the final play-in spot, pending the Bulls’ game later Wednesday.More relevant to their tank-happy fans, it saw them fall three games behind No.

5 Toronto in the lottery odds.They’re six behind No.

4 Charlotte and a daunting seven out of a top-3 spot where the chances for the top overall pick become flattened.In short, Cooper Flagg is looking more like a mirage than a target.But these players won’t care.

Not after D’Angelo Russell (22 points, five rebounds, four assists), Nic Claxton (13 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks) and a dominant defense led them to another victory.It was a 20th win, one more than Vegas tabbed them to accrue this season.“[We’ve done] a lot.Look at our wins, people only thought we were going to win 19 games.

Now we’re right there approaching it with a lot more games to go,” Jalen Wilson said.“And we’ve all grown in different areas, especially defensively.

The last 10 games, we’ve been so connected on all aspects of defense, and it leads to us playing good on offense, leads to us getting wins and just feel good.“We’re just motivated to win every single [game], especially knowing the cap that people put us on.It’s just like, ‘They don’t know, they don’t believe in it, but we do.’ And every time we get a win, we understand that we’re just one game closer, one step closer to where we want to be.

As of late we’ve just been so connected, and we can see that that leads to winning.We’ve been winning some games and we just want to keep on going, keep on playing the...