"It's not cause of the refs" - Kevin Durant refuses to blame officials for the free throw disparity in Brooklyn Nets vs Atlanta Hawks game

Despite Kevin Durant's career-best 55-point performance, the Brooklyn Nets fell short of the finish line in Atlanta, losing 115-122 against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.

Trae Young scored 36 points and 10 assists in the win, with D'Andre Hunter chipping in with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Durant shot 68% from the field and 80% from the three-point line on 10 attempts. Kyrie Irving added 31 points, but shot a mere 37.5% from the field.

In the post-game press-conference, Durant talked about the Nets' sloppy defense, owing to which the Hawks attempted a staggering 49 shots from the charity stripe compared to the Nets' 19:

"We put them in the bonus early every quarter...14 free-throw makes...and it's not cause of the refs, it was like, 'cause we're reaching and being undisciplined and just playing too aggressive, you know? That's the game"

Durant also talked about how foul-shots were the only separating factor between them and the Hawks:

"They out-rebounded us by two, had one more assist than us...but we still got more shots up than them, so it's like, just fouls and we can't do that if we want to be a winning team"

Where will Kevin Durant and Co. end up in the Eastern Conference?

From left to right: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant

The Nets (40-38) will head into the play-in tournament with the loss on Saturday. The Hawks (41-37) moved up to eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and will most likely head to the play-in tournament as well, but are two games behind the Cavs and hold the tiebreaker over them.

The Cavaliers face the 76ers (47-30), the Nets and Bucks (48-29) in three of their final four games, and the Hawks face only one top-four team in the Miami Heat (50-28).

The Hornets (40-38) trail the Hawks by one game and hold the tiebreaker over them with their conference record. The Hornets, tied with the Nets for the ninth seed, also holds the tiebreaker over Brooklyn.

Brooklyn has the easiest schedule remaining, and faces three teams with a losing record: the Pacers (25-53), the Knicks (34-44) and the Rockets (20-58). Brooklyn is three games behind the Cavaliers and currently holds the tiebreaker over them. The Nets are projected to end up in the eighth seed.

All the other teams in the Eastern Conference have been eliminated from playoffs contention.