[ad_1]
After losing a blowout in Brooklyn on Monday, the Nets suffered a heartbreaker in Tuesday’s return leg in Toronto.
The Nets blew a late lead in falling 109-108 to the Raptors before a crowd of 18,903 at Scotiabank Arena.
Brooklyn — which had lost by 36 at Barclays Center a night earlier — led late but got outscored 28-19 in the fourth quarter. The eighth-place Nets fell even further into the Eastern Conference play-in morass.
They trail seventh-place Toronto (34-27) by three full games with just 19 to play. They were four behind sixth-place Boston 36-27 pending the outcome of the Celtics game.
“I think overall philosophically if we can meet their physicality challenge [we can win],” said Jacque Vaughn, who was coaching for Steve Nash, who is in health and safety protocols. “A big team, aggressive, they showed that rebounding the basketball and so can we match their physicality is the No. 1 priority for [this game].”
Toronto was without OG Anunoby (fractured ring finger) and Fred VanVleet. But the Nets were essentially bereft of an entire championship-level starting five in Kevin Durant (left MCL sprain), Kyrie Irving (ineligible), Ben Simmons (back, conditioning), Andre Drummond (knee) and Joe Harris (left ankle surgery).
But what the Nets put out on the court was enough. Just barely.
Brooklyn trailed by double figures at 32-21 after a Scottie Barnes free throw with 1:36 left in the first quarter. But Vaughn responded with a zone defense that threw the Raptors off, and his Nets responded with eight unanswered points to span the periods. The Nets pulled within three after Seth Curry (18 points, six assists) hit Nic Claxton for a dunk.
Still down 37-31, the Nets put together a 9-2 run capped by a dunk by James Johnson (team-high 19 points) to put Brooklyn ahead, and Curry’s 3-pointer made it 43-41 just over the midway point of the second quarter.
Toronto went back up 53-51 on a 3 by Gary Trent Jr. (game-high 24 points) with 1:44 remaining in the half. But Brooklyn closed out on an 8-2 run, and Goran Dragic — who started the season in Toronto, and got booed with every touch — had a hand in every point.
First Dragic found Johnson for a 3-pointer. Then he followed with a finger roll, a step-back jumper — putting his finger to his mouth to shush the booing crowd — and finally a free throw for a 59-55 edge going into the break.
Trailing by a point, the Nets ripped off 11 unanswered points. A Blake Griffin spin move put them ahead 86-77, and they led by eight after three quarters.
They couldn’t hold it. They got out outscored 9-2 to open the fourth, a Malachi Flynn floater pulling Toronto within 91-90.
LaMarcus Aldridge — starting in place of Drummond — hit a turnaround three-point play on the baseline to salvage a frenetic possession, and followed with another contested midrange fade to pad the lead back to 96-90. But the Raptors kept coming.
The Nets allowed a 10-0 Toronto run, started by a Flynn 3-pointer late in the shot clock and capped by a Trent floater 100-96 with 2:56 to play.
Curry made a strong drive to stop the bleeding, and his long 3-pointer knotted it at 103-all with 50.8 seconds remaining. But Trent’s free throws 20 seconds later put Toronto back ahead, and the Nets never recovered. Curry missed a pair of jumpers, and Trent’s foul shots pushed it to four, essentially icing it with 18 seconds to play.
Johnson’s 3 at the buzzer was cosmetic.
[ad_2]