Three and a half games out of a playoff spot with only seven games left to play, the New Jersey Nets ap­pear to be on a sinking ship with no oars. Originally looking rejuvenated after trading Jason Kidd to the Mav­ericks, the Nets have failed to win down the stretch, going 4-6 in their last ten games.

Last week, the team was stress­ing the need to continue their streak of six consecutive seasons in the playoffs. It was almost as if they thought that fate alone would give them a postseason birth. Now, they see things in a much different light.

“We can’t rely on history. All that ‘History is on our side,’ I don’t believe that,” Nets second-lead­ing scorer Vince Carter told the AP. Since the All-Star Break, Carter has stepped up his game, averaging three more points a game and has been a more consistent shooter. “I just be­lieve what we need to do is come to play and take the wins. We can’t just say, ‘Oh, it can happen.’ Let’s go take these wins and I’ll feel bet­ter about it.”

To make matters worse, the team doesn’t appear to be in a situation to depend on anyone other than their new big three of Richard Jefferson, Carter and Devin Harris, to get them into the playoffs. Nenad Krstic, Josh Boone, Sean and Marcus Williams have all shown signs of promise this season, but have all failed to put up a consistent effort for a prolonged period of time. In addition, Bostjan Nachbar, the team’s biggest offen­sive option off the bench, has been battling back problems for the past few weeks and isn’t in a position to help either.

“If it were a December thing, I’d take off. But now is not the time to do it, so I’m willing to suck it up a little bit and hope for the best,” Nachbar said told the AP. “This team has given me so much, it would be unfair for me to shut it down right now when it’s the most important part of the season.”

With injuries taking their toll and the team’s chances at reaching the playoffs for a seventh season erod­ing, Nets Coach Laurence Frank is still committed on making things happen on the court. Nevertheless, he knows things aren’t going to be easy for his club and is hoping his bench comes up big down the stretch.

“The bottom line is, the games are dwindling down and you do whatever it takes to win,” Frank told the AP. “The core group you rely on for a lot of minutes, then you look at the second group of starters, the sup­porting actors, to fill in and do their job.”

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