Brooklyn Nets smile through win against New Orleans Pelicans, 119-114

New Orleans Pelicans v Brooklyn Nets“This is not the end of anything. This is not the end of the season, this is just the next game, the next game going into the the most important summer of our lives.”

So said Jordi Fernández before the 21-57 New Orleans Pelicans visited his 25-53 Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday evening. That end-of-season feeling was thick, the story of the 2024-25 Nets so near completion, despite Fernández’s protests, that they could actually win this one without any further narrative.

Entering Tuesday night, they were nearly locked into the sixth-best NBA Draft Lottery odds, their magic number needed to clinch said position just one. One measly win, or one Toronto Raptors loss;…