I don’t know how you guys feel, but watching a team like the Hawks have their way with the Celtics really makes me wonder what could have been with the Nets this season. We all know that it’s a completely different ballgame once the playoffs start and it doesn’t matter if you have Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce or Ray Allen in your lineup, if you don’t out work your team for four quarters and limit your mistakes, you’re going to be in trouble.

Watching this series between Atlanta and Boston is living proof of that.

For that reason, it makes me wonder if the Nets were playing the Celtics right now, would they have exited early or would they be where the Hawks are right now? Nothing Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams or Mike Bibby, have played with reckless abandon for the Hawks in this series, but how would Richard Jefferson, Vince Carter and Devin Harris fare if they really played the way they are capable of? Would they be able to hold their own, or would it not matter?

I don’t know, I’m just throwing the question out there guys.

Right now, I’m feeling like I’m reading an issue of the old Marvel Comics series “What If?” What if Sean Williams could move laterally and shoot a little more efficiently? What if Jefferson and Carter shot efficiently the entire season? What if Marcus Williams found a way to be more consistent? What if Boki Nachbar doesn’t get injured down the stretch? What if Nenad Krstic too wasn’t dealing with injuries all year?

I thinking we know all the answers to those questions. The Nets would have made the playoffs, to only lose to a team with more size and consistency. Interesting little plot twist there, eh? My whole point of this diatribe this week is to point out that teams that are missing pieces that just barely make the playoffs need to play the best basketball of their lives to hang with greatness. That’s exactly what’s happening now with the Hawks. The Nets however, are missing a few big pieces right now and even if they found a way to get into the playoffs, it wouldn’t have been long before they would have been eliminated.

After the summer is over and the pieces begin to come together a little more, this team is still a few pieces away from being more than a mediocre team with promise. Rather than dream, like it’s easy to do, fans need to simply wait and see where the chips fall. Once they do, then this team can have some kind of expectations put on them.