We interrupt the Nets’ obituary to bring you the following breaking news: New Jersey’s season isn’t over yet.

On Wednesday, the Nets summoned some of their best basketball of the season in the first three quarters and rode out a hideous fourth to beat Cleveland 83–72, extending their best-of-seven series to a Game 6 tonight at the Meadowlands (7 PM, ESPN) with the Cavs leading 3–2.

I’m as surprised as you are that we’re still talking about the Nets’ season in the present tense, but Game 5 marked a pretty interesting shift in the dynamic of this series. After Game 4, we were operating under the impression that Cleveland was the better team and would take care of business in Game 5. After all, they were up in games 3–1, they won nine more games in the regular season, and their one loss in the first four games came during an uncharacteristic offensive explosion from the Nets.

But now? Take a look at the totals from this series and explain to me how the Cavs have been better. Over the course of the five games, New Jersey is plus-6 in scoring margin. They’ve also held Cleveland to abysmal shooting in all five games, capped by the 33.3% stinker the Cavs barfed up on Wednesday night.

If anything, the Nets have gained more of an advantage the longer the series has gone on. The Cavs won the first two games at the Q, but were beaten easily in Games 3 and 5 and barely squeezed out a win in Game 4 — on a night New Jersey’s big three combined to shoot 11-for-48.

Remember, too, that Cleveland’s wins in Games 1 and 2 came about largely due to their dominance on the offensive glass — they grabbed a combined 39 offensive boards in those games. But that dominance has faded of late, and even the Cavs’ 15 offensive boards on Wednesday were the result of the sheer quantity of missed Cleveland shots.

Moreover, the Cavs now face the injury bug. Sasha Pavlovic, who has been in a running battle with Mikki Moore to see who can flagrantly foul the other first, hurt his left wrist in the second quarter on Wednesday and is questionable for tonight. If he can’t go, it pushes the offensively inept Eric Snow or the defensively challenged Daniel Gibson into the Cleveland lineup.

LeBron James also missed the final 56 seconds after knocking his knee while scrambling with Jason Kidd for a loose ball along the sideline, but given his track record and virtually indestructible physique, one presumes he’ll be ready to go. Nonetheless, the Cavs can’t be excited about any physical problems affecting their meal ticket.

So despite a 3–2 deficit in games, things are looking decidedly upbeat from New Jersey’s end. The Nets know darn well they can hang with Cleveland, and facing a Game 6 on the home court where they’ve lost just once this postseason, they have to feel confident about their ability to force a rubber match on Sunday. If it gets to that point, New Jersey knows it has more experience and has proven it can win at the Q. All in all, they’re in a much better spot than we could have imagined 48 hours ago.

So why do I have a doubt that keeps nagging at me, that subtle yet unmistakable inkling that perhaps I’m wildly overselling the Nets’ chances here?

This is the same doubt that was nowhere to be found when the third-quarter buzzer went off on Wednesday and the Nets were holding a 19-point lead, one built off near flawless execution during the preceding 12 minutes. But the fourth quarter rekindled every Nets fan’s insecurities about this team’s ability to score in halfcourt situations, and thus their ability to hold off a team with a player like James for three straight games.

I would argue, in fact, that it was the single worst quarter in the history of playoff basketball. The Nets scored six points the entire quarter, which is pretty amazing when you consider they had 10 free-throw attempts. But New Jersey only made four of them, and made just one basket — one — the entire 12 minutes, while missing their other 14 shot attempts. It was the fewest points in a quarter by a winning playoff team in the shot-clock era.

Fortunately for them, Cleveland only scored 13 in the stanza, converting only two field goals more than the Nets. Neither team made a shot for the first 6:51 of the quarter, going a combined 0-for-17. It was so bad that New Jersey scored only two points in the final 4:05, and Cleveland couldn’t cut into the Nets’ 11-point lead.

That’s not going to happen again in the series’ final two games. Larry Hughes isn’t going to shoot 3-for-17 again tonight, and Donyell Marshall certainly isn’t going to go 0-for-7 again if he gets the same clean looks he had on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Nets offense remains a cause for concern. They’ve only had two games in which they truly played well at the offensive end — games 2 and 3. (Those were the only games they managed to break the 90-point barrier, believe it or not). One reason they fared so well was that their running game got going both times, with 13 fastbreak points in Game 2 and 20 in Game 3.

But those were the outliers — they haven’t had more than 9 fastbreak points in the other three games, and averaged just 10.4 for the series. And when the Nets get in the halfcourt, too often they’re stuck in the mud. Witness the repeated failed attempts to post up Richard Jefferson on Snow in the fourth quarter Wednesday, or Vince Carter’s inability to escape the cavalry Cleveland sent after him at the end of Game 3.

So while the Nets should feel good about where they stand, especially in comparison to their position two days ago, it’s hardly time to get overconfident. Despite the rousing recovery in Game 5, statistically, chances are New Jersey’s season will end this weekend — most likely on Sunday. The only way to avert that outcome is if the Nets’ nightly offensive meltdown decides to take the weekend off.