Earlier in the season, most NBA matchmakers would have agreed that the Nets had the talent to get into the playoffs as a seventh or eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. Those matchmakers couldn’t predict that Jason Kidd would request a trade and Nenad Krstic would take three quarters of the season to get his game back to where it was early last season.

Those same matchmakers couldn’t have predicted that Vince Carter would play streaky offense and spotty defense most of the season and that Laurence Frank would start Jason Collins over Jamaal Magloire, Sean Williams and Josh Boone for a good chunk of the season.

However, despite the flumps produced this season on the bench and on the court, New Jersey is only a half game behind the Atlanta Hawks for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Nets General Manager Rod Thorn doesn’t seem to think his team will have a problem getting into postseason play this season and has already stated that Frank isn’t in jeopardy of losing his job if they don’t.

“I expect us to make it,” Thorn told the Associated Press.

The Nets themselves also don’t seem worried down the stretch about their playoff chances, even though they don’t particularly love the way the season has gone for them.

“I would prefer to be in a little bit higher situation battling for seeding, rather than battling to get in, but I do enjoy it,” Richard Jefferson, the Nets leading scorer, told the AP. “This adds a little more fun to your season. It makes the games more important.”

Adding a little bit of excitement of his own as of late has been Krstic, who seems to be completely healthy after suffering a debilitating knee injury last season. Before the injury, Krstic was emerging as the team’s biggest weapons on offense.

“I’m feeling really good, my knee is feeling great right now,” Krstic told the AP after scoring a season high 22 points at Madison Square Garden on Monday. “This season for me is still going to be ups and downs. If I play bad the next game, it’s not going to be about my knee, it’s just I had a bad game. I just want to put that behind me. That’s like past me. It’s almost a year and a half ago; I don’t care about that.”

With a healthy Krstic and the newly acquired Devin Harris supporting Jefferson and Carter down the stretch, the Nets may just yet make due on Thorn’s words.