Nets’ rebuild was nice, but serious contention much better

This was the visiting locker room at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center late in the afternoon of April 13, 2019. Nets players were still high on what they had just done, which was to pick Game 1 of their first-round playoff series clear out of the 76ers’ pockets, 111-102. It seemed improbable. It seemed implausible.

“Maybe what we accomplish surprises everybody else, and that’s OK,” said Joe Harris, who’d done what he always did — what he still does — in splashing three out of four 3-pointers. “It doesn’t surprise any of us.” A few lockers away, Caris LeVert’s smile stretched like the Ben Franklin Bridge.