They might not have gotten off to a hot start, might have blown an early lead, and might have missed 20 of their 24 three-point attempts, but the Brooklyn Nets made shots and got stops when they needed down the stretch to steal a Game 1 win over the Toronto Raptors.
Much has been made about the Nets’ noted road struggles this season and how the No. 3 seed Raptors had homecourt advantage in this series. However, with the win, the Nets turned that disadvantage into a strength of their own, as they can now win the rest of this series by just taking care of business in Brooklyn, even though they probably will win another game at Air Canada Centre before the 1st round is over.
Many people have also talked about the relative age of the Nets as compared to the Raptors, a young team with a host of athletic offensive and defensive options. Brooklyn also made that a moot point, as 36-year-old Paul Pierce put Toronto away almost single-handedly in the fourth quarter with nine straight points (of his 15 on the game) to bring the Nets lead from four to seven from the 2:21 mark of the frame to the 0:51 mark. Time after time, the Nets turned to their offseason pickup to hit a much-needed three, some amazing turnaround jumpers, and a layup to cap it off.
The Nets scored the first five points of this game but then allowed the playoff-inexperienced Raptors to fight themselves right back into this game. Toronto went up 11-7 on a momentous Kyle Lowry three-pointer (one of three for him on the game, also scored 20 points) before Brooklyn rolled off a shocking 18-2 run to take a 25-13 advantage. Toronto had nothing going on offense–thanks to some great Brooklyn defense–while the Nets, using the uber-efficient Joe Johnson to go through, got hot from the field. The Raptors would cut their deficit to eight before the quarter was over, though.
The second quarter was a little shaky for Brooklyn, as their key scoring reserves–Marcus Thornton and Mirza Teletovic, who combined for three points on 1-10 shooting from the field and 0-9 shooting from three–couldn’t hit anything. This allowed Greivis Vasquez, former Kings teammate of Thornton, to lead Dwane Casey’s second unit back into this game.
Brooklyn went on to regain a little ground after a halftime at which they only led 50-46. The third quarter ended up being pretty weird, as it involved an Andray Blatche technical, the malfunctioning of both shot clocks in the arena, and some back-and-forth play before the Nets took a decent lead and regained control of the high-intensity opening game.
Scoring was a struggle for both teams, especially from the perimeter, but that didn’t stop Lowry from hitting an enormous long ball right at the end of the quarter to cut the Toronto deficit to five heading into the fourth. Right before, Alan Anderson took an ill-advised shot with the “shot clock”–as it was announced throughout the stadium by the Raptors’ PA guy–allowing Lowry to have enough time for a shot.
Patrick Patterson, who has been a thorn in the Nets’ side this whole season, scored five quick points to start the fourth off, tying the game up at 67 all and continuing a 8-0 Raptors run.
Then the see-saw battle commenced.
The Nets and Raptors traded baskets, stops, and runs for minutes until Kevin Garnett made his first shot of the game with 3:41 left to play. KG, who was 1-of-5 today and didn’t play well on offense, hit a short turnaround in the lane to give the Nets a 79-76 lead they wouldn’t give up. Pierce went on his personal nine-point run–interrupted by a Jonas Valanciunas layup and Greivis Vasquez three–to put this game away. Toronto would never recover, especially since the Nets hit their last six free throws to seal off the win.
Some other observations I had from the game: No Andrei Kirilenko. For some unknown reason, Jason Kidd didn’t give AK any minutes at all today, as he remained on the bench the whole game. No injury was reported, so his absence was very confusing and surprising, as his defensive skillset and mindset would have been helpful against the Raptors. I’d be stunned if he didn’t play in Game 2….The Nets bench really didn’t bring much to the table. The only Brooklyn reserve to play somewhat well was Mason Plumlee, who was picking up fouls left and right but was effective in defending Valanciunas close to the basketball. He was only able to get in for 12 minutes because he spent much of the second half with five fouls, but when he was in, he made a difference….The three-point shooting was atrocious. The Nets–I mean Deron Williams and Paul Pierce–hit some threes early and a big one late (Pierce) but made none in the second or third quarters. As I mentioned above, Mirza and Marcus were way off from downtown but weren’t even heavily contested: They were missing some wide open looks. The Nets have been prone to these cold stretches this year but can’t continue them in the playoffs….Joe Johnson and Deron Williams led the way, and looked great against some decent Toronto defense. Joe was able to sit on the post against guys like John Salmons, DeMar DeRozan, and Terrence Ross and went to work, scoring easy floaters over them and also finding open teammates. Deron, meanwhile, had his dirty crossover working and was running circles around the Raptors and Lowry, who had trouble sticking with him. Joe scored 24 and grabbed eight boards to go with 8-for-13 shooting. Deron also put in 24 but did so on seven more shots. He also compiled just three assists, which certainly isn’t enough for him….Valanciunas abused Brooklyn down low with 17 points and 18 rebounds, but also missed a lot of freebies and committed six turnovers, thanks to some hounding Nets defense. He scored a lot early but saw his effectiveness dip as the game went on. Lowry and Vasquez were huge for Toronto as the point guards combined for 40 points and 16 assists and went 6-for-12 from three. The Nets managed to hold Net-killer DeMar DeRozan in check, as he scored just 14 on 3-13 shooting. In his first playoff game, he clearly felt the pressure of the postseason and couldn’t handle it.
Looking Ahead
This series is far from over, and Game 2 is on Tuesday night in Toronto at 7:30 pm. In order to really get the Raptors nervous, Brooklyn needs to win so they can return home to clinch.
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