Atkinson aiming to make Nets big-time closers

The Nets made the secondbiggest jump in the NBA’s Eastern Conference last season, but coach Kenny Atkinson knows it could’ve been much bigger if they hadn’t given away so many games late. Learning to close out those nail-biters may be their biggest goal as Atkinson enters his third — and arguably most pivotal — season as coach.

“The hardest thing to do in pro sports is to close games,” Atkinson told The Post from the Nets’ youth camp in Southampton. “But I do look at it as a positive. We were in a ton of close games: We just have to do a better job of closing. It’s not about ‘We need a closer.’ We all need to do a better job.”

They did a better job overall last season. Atkinson’s NBAworst 20-62 debut campaign was mostly non-competitive drubbings, with the Nets losing by a staggering 6.73 points per game. They essentially halved that to 3.73 in last season’s eightgame jump to 28-54.

And it could have been more. Basketball Reference’s Pythagorean Wins — the expected record based on points scored and allowed — projected they should have gone 31-51. But that’s what happens when a team habitually gives games away late. It’s a habit the Nets need to break.

“Something we’ve talked about a lot [is] competing in the endgame and being able close out games. That’s something our players have said, they’re getting accustomed to playing with each other in those moments,” general manager Sean Marks said recently. “You can’t implement that in practice.

“Hey, Caris [LeVert], you’re down five with 30 seconds to go: What are you going to do? How are you going to play it? If he does it in a real game, that’s a great learning tool for him. For all our players, that’ll be big. For our coaching staff, that’s something they’d like to work on. They want to win more games, as we all do.”

The Nets will need to show improvement to lure big free agents next summer, when they have $50 million-$70 million to spend. And that means learning to close.

In clutch moments (up or down five in the last five minutes) the Nets had the secondworst margin (minus-47), and lost the second-most close games (31) in the league. Part of that was a learning curve for both Atkinson and a young roster. It’s also a talent deficit, injuries, and mostly digging so many holes early that they expend too much energy to even get close late.

“We looked at the last five minute stats, and they were better than we thought,” Atkinson said. “[But] you have to perform the whole game. If you get in deep holes, you spend a lot of energy coming back.

“The hope is to be more consistent.”

Atkinson spoke about trading away Jeremy Lin, saying the guard wasn’t mad as much as frustrated with his own injuries, which he apologized for.

“I have a close relationship with him. We’ve known each other a long time. Anytime you have a colleague you’ve been with, it’s difficult,” Atkinson said.

“Jeremy said to me, ‘I feel bad I wasn’t healthy for you guys.’ … It’s frustrating and sad he had bad luck during his time with us.”