The Nets have yet to shoot well from three in this year’s playoffs, and tonight’s Game 2 loss was certainly no exception. However, unlike in Game 1, the Nets weren’t able to make enough shots late–or get enough stops–to make up for their poor first half effort. Brooklyn and Toronto have off until Friday but then this 1-1 series heads to the Barclays Center for Games 3 and 4.
The Raptors, as expected, played much crisper basketball on both sides of the floor in the first and second quarters, with many of their players now informed on just how different the playoff atmosphere is from the regular season atmosphere. Jonas Valanciunas (15 points, 14 rebounds) continued to bully the Nets inside while a resurgent DeMar DeRozan, who rebounded from a dreadful 3-for-13 shooting performance in Game 1, finally found his stroke from the outside.
The Raptors were up by as much as seven in the opening frame before a 5-0 Nets run–powered by Deron free throws and a Mirza three-pointer–cut the score to 21-19 in favor of Toronto at the quarter break. They rebuilt their advantage even more in the next quarter, to a high of a 11, but couldn’t put the Nets away, who continued to chip away at it before a Deron floater cut it to 45-39 at the half. Not a good 24 minutes of play by the Nets by any means.
Brooklyn looked much better after halftime, winning the third quarter by a 27-19 margin and gaining a small 66-64 lead that would be quickly squandered in the final quarter. The Nets realized, in the third, that the Raptors’ interior defense isn’t too formidable, so taller wing players like Shaun Livingston and Joe Johnson started to attack the hoop for easy layups. When those dried up, the ball was kicked outside for longer jumpers. When the Nets are good on offense, it’s mainly due to good ball movement and the team’s solid play in the quarter was due to exactly that.
Moving to the fourth, after an Alan Anderson three gave the Nets a 5-point lead, Toronto scored eight of the next ten points to take a slim lead. The two teams then traded shots for a little bit before Kyle Lowry, with a layup drive to the hoop, gave the Raptors the lead (basically) for good at the 6:33 mark. A Paul Pierce three-point play tied it up at 83 for a second but after another basket exchange, the desperate Toronto squad was in control until the final buzzer rang.
As good as Pierce was in Saturday’s fourth quarter, he was not tonight, as he missed two wide open three-pointers–they rimmed in-and-out, admittedly–that could have tied and/or brought the Nets much closer to Toronto as time ran out in the game. Meanwhile, nearly everything was falling for Dwane Casey’s team late in this game, which is why they got their much-needed home win before this series shifts to the US.
Some other observations I had from the game: The Nets cannot, I repeat, cannot be outrebounded 52-30 and expect to win anymore games in this series. They allowed 19 (!) offensive rebounds to the Raptors which is an insane number. In fact, Brooklyn’s putrid rebounding ended up not killing them because the Nets forced 21 turnovers, but if that margin is just 48-34 or 46-36 or something like that, then the Nets probably win going away. Those rebounds represent possessions, which represent scoring opportunities, which represent points, which swing games for obvious reasons. Four Raptors (Jonas Valanciunas, Amir Johnson, Kyle Lowry, and Patrick Patterson) collected nine or more boards. How many Nets did that? Zero. Pierce and Mason Plumlee led Brooklyn with six apiece. That’s embarrassing….Toronto has committed 40 turnovers through two games this series. That’s a ridiculous number and shows just how pesky and smart the Nets can be on defense. Granted, they let down sometimes which has let the Raptors get too many easy layups right at the basket….The Nets went just 7-for-24 from three tonight. They went 4-for-24 on Saturday, which makes for 11-for-48 (23%) on the series. That’s atrocious, plain and simple. Pierce, Joe Johnson, and Deron combined for 3-for-16 three-point shooting tonight, which is so bad that it makes me want to throw up in my mouth….Not going to go into individual players’ performances tonight simply because the Nets lost this game because of rebounding and some awful shooting. Their defense was fine–14 steals and six blocks will do the trick–and non-three shooting was okay too. All they need to do to coast through the rest of this series is hit open treys and grab some more defensive rebounds. That’s really it.
Looking Ahead
Game 3 is on Friday night at the Barclays Center. It’s a statement game for the Nets to show their might at home.
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