NEW YORK — Friday night was merely a formality.
With the Eastern Conference’s sixth and final guaranteed playoff seed hanging in the balance, and a date with a short-handed and low-ranked Orlando Magic team on the docket, the Nets dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s.
Then they signed, sealed and delivered the Magic a 104-81 defeat, a Brooklyn victory that punched the team’s ticket to Philadelphia for a first-round playoff date with Joel Embiid, James Harden and the 76ers next week.