The Brooklyn Nets are heading to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. With their 101-84 blowout of the Orlando Magic at Barclays Center Friday, Brooklyn clinched the Eastern Conference's sixth seed and a first-round matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Expectations never shifted within the new-look Nets following the trades of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. They set out to make the playoffs and met their goal despite a completely revamped roster with little to no practice time. Brooklyn is one of the only teams without a star player in the playoffs, something head coach Jacque Vaughn emphasized when speaking about his team's journey:

“You look at teams seven, eight, nine, ten, they have an All-Star or multiple All-Stars on their team,” Vaughn said postgame Friday. “And this sixth seed, the Brooklyn Nets, we did it in a very competitive and collective way as a group, as a team. And hopefully the borough of Brooklyn is proud to have this group represent them in the playoffs.”

Mikal Bridges has been the closest thing to a star for the Nets. The breakout forward has turned heads across the league during 26 games with Brooklyn, averaging 27.2 points on 48/38/89 shooting splits. Bridges reflected on his journey to the playoffs with Brooklyn after clinching:

“It was tough, especially in the beginning. A lot of new people trying to learn concepts and figure out our rotation and what to do out there on the court together,” he said. “So it was definitely tough for a while, but finally clicking and finally figuring out what we can do out there was dope. Just happy to be in this position.”

This is not the first time a scrappy, underdog Nets team has matched up with a high-powered 76ers squad in the first round. The 2018-19 Nets headlined by D’Angelo Rusell, Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen and Spencer Dinwiddie also earned the sixth seed, eventually losing to Philadelphia in five games.

Dinwiddie has been highly productive while leading the Nets’ offense after rejoining the team as part of the Irving trade. The veteran floor general ranks second in the NBA in total assists during that span. Dinwiddie and Joe Harris are the only players remaining from the 2018-19 Brooklyn team. And Dinwiddie said he sees a completely different group this time around:

“We’re more established,” Dinwiddie said. “That was a young team trying to find their way. We have a lot of guys who understand who we are in the NBA already. We’re trying to find our way as a unit. That one was more so we had a lot of guys trying to find their way as individuals in the league. Now we had great vibes, a bunch of great character guys. It wasn’t selfishness, but we still just kinda were wide-eyed and didn’t necessarily know.”

“You got guys on this team who went to the finals, conference finals, things of that nature, have experience, and have an appropriate respect for Philly obviously, but there’s no like fear or anything,” the Nets guard continued.

Dinwiddie isn't off in his assessment. None of the 2018-19 Nets team's top four players had appeared in a playoff game before their matchup with Philadelphia. This year's team has Bridges and Cam Johnson, who played in an NBA finals with Phoenix, as well as Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith, who made the Western Conference Finals with Dallas last season. Nic Claxton, Royce O'Neale, Joe Harris and Seth Curry, the rest of Brooklyn's rotation, also all have extensive playoff experience.

Like Dinwiddie, Vaughn isn't for comparisons between the 2018-19 squad and this one:

“I've tried to stay in this space with this group. Can I use some prior experiences in playoffs? Probably so, but I'm really letting this group define itself,” the coach said. “They are their own group. Not compared to any other that we’ve had. That was the most impressive part about this. At the beginning of this new group we were trying to figure out: Are they going to be able to defend? Are they going to be able to score? All the questions that we were hearing. Are they going to be able to rebound? Are they gonna play big? Are they gonna play small? We did it all.”

“We just kept staying together and figuring it out. That’s what this group is made up of: guys that are going to find a way. So we’re not going to compare ourselves to previous groups, we’re gonna find a way with this group.”

This marks the 3rd time in franchise history that the Nets have made the playoffs in five consecutive seasons. They previously did it from 1981-1986 and 2001-2007. Brooklyn will close out the regular season when they host Philadelphia Sunday with both teams expected to rest their starters.