It’s not often you hear the phrase “do or die game” for a playoff-bound  team in the waning weeks of the regular season, but tonight, it is in fact do or die for the Nets as they host the Philadelphia 76ers here at Barclays Center.

Tonight’s game, which can be seen at 7:30 p.m. on My9 (WWOR-TV), is do or die for Brooklyn in terms of their quest for an Atlantic Division title; the Knicks’ magic number is down to one, meaning the next Nets loss or Knicks win will clinch the division for the orange and blue.

Nets interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo isn’t worried about that, however, as much as he is worried about the matchup between Brook Lopez and Philly’s Spencer Hawes, another 7-footer who like Lopez plays very well away from the basket.

“They’re two very versatile bigs, who can both play away from the basket, rebound and pass,” Carlesimo said. “Spencer’s ball skills are very good, and they run a lot of things through the elbow with him. He can pas the ball well outside and go out and shoot threes, and he made a couple against us last time.”

Lopez is very familiar with Hawes, as the two were Pac-10 rivals during their freshman seasons at Stanford and Washington respectively and have been together in the NBA for five years now, but so is Carlesimo; the Nets’ interim coach admitted that he and Hawes live nearby one another, and he actually got an up close and personal look at the big man a few months back.

“He’s a neighbor of ours; he lives a couple of blocks away from the house, and he was actually over at the house over the All-Star break, playing with the kids in the back yard,” Carlesimo said. “He’s a good player, and he’s continued to improve this season, so it’s going to be important for us to make him defend and get more pressure on his jump shots; they’re a good jump shooting team, and we didn’t defend that well last time we played them. It’s hard to defend seven-footers, but we have to do it.”

Jrue Holiday, Philly’s All-Star point guard, is the other player Carlesimo is worried about; citing the league’s modification of the rules on hand checking, Carlesimo says that a quick player like Holiday is becoming “virtually impossible” to guard effectively, let alone stifle.

“It’s enough of a problem in the open floor, but in the pick and rolls, it’s really a problem now,” Carlesimo said. “Once one of their bigs gets a piece of Deron (Williams) or whoever’s covering him, then it becomes a real adventure. It’s almost better in the open floor; once you introduce the bigs into it, you knock guys off-kilter a little bit. Maybe it was too much the other way when you could do pretty much anything with your hands, but now it’s virtually impossible to guard the quick player.”

That will be even harder perhaps if Joe Johnson, who has missed the last three games while battling a recurrence of plantar fasciitis in his left heel, will be unable to go. Johnson is listed as a game-time decision, and about 90 minutes before tipoff, Carlesimo didn’t know Johnson’s status but said if he does play, his workload will be all based on feel.

“I haven’t seen him yet, but (if he does play) we’ll see how he feels,” Carlesimo said of Johnson’s availability. “He won’t go for huge minutes, but if he feels good, we’ll try to get maybe 30 or so out of him.”

Two other notes of interest around game No. 77 of the season:

-When asked about Nets minority owner Jay Z’s new sports management agency and the effect it might have on the Nets if he begins to represent basketball players and divest his interest in the team, Carlesimo said it would be “disappointing” to lose someone who has been very influential in not only the move from New Jersey to Brooklyn, but the identity shift that has come with it.

“He had an enormous amount to do with the rebranding of the team; I wasn’t close to it at all, but from what I’ve seen, it would be hard to overstate his importance in this all,” Carlesimo said. “I like his involvement in the team; he’s at the games, and maybe he’s around more than I realize behind the scenes, but he’s an excellent fan, one that wasn’t just around this year, but a lot in the past too, which is very telling to me.”

-Prior to tip-off, the Nets will display the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 1955 World Championship banner at center court. April 9, 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the first game played at Ebbets Field, and according to a team release, the pennant, which is on loan from the Brooklyn Historical Society, will be brought out by Brooklyn Dodgers fans who regularly attended games at the old field that was located roughly two miles from the Barclays Center in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn.

Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroYES