Just like LeBron infamously announced a few summers ago, the Brooklyn Nets will be taking their talents to South Beach. Not for good, but for the second round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs.
The Raptors, with their loud and desperate home crowd behind them, controlled much of the first quarter as Amir Johnson–was very inconsistent in this series–dominated the Nets down low, and ended up with a 20-and-10 double-double before fouling out in the second half. In just 22 minutes, Johnson went 9-for-12 from the field and made Brooklyn look bad on the glass.
However, as the first quarter passed, the Nets started to rebound much better and eventually won the board battle by a 42-38 margin, which is relatively remarkable considering the prowess of Jonas Valanciunas and Johnson in that category and the fact that the Nets are one of the league’s worst rebounding teams for obvious reasons. Kevin Garnett, who put together his first double-double in months, had a game-high 11 rebounds to go with his 12 points.
Brooklyn’s bench provided a much-needed boost in the second quarter, which the Nets won by 10 and used to take an eight-point halftime lead. The Nets got 38 points from their bench (17 from a hot Marcus Thornton on four threes and 10 from Andray Blatche, who played great defense) compared to just 23 from the Raptors. At some points in this series, Jason Kidd’s reserves played very poorly but today they certainly stepped it up.
The Nets would lead by as much as 12 in the third quarter but ended up exchanging baskets with Toronto for much of the quarter and allowed the Raptors to come back just a little bit to make the score 81-73 after the third quarter. Basically, the third frame was a wash, and an amazing DeMar DeRozan fadeaway three as the buzzer lit up to end the quarter made sure of that. It gave the Raptors come momentum heading into the final minutes of the series.
In the fourth, the Nets had no trouble scoring, until the game’s last few minutes. In the early going, they were able to get everything they wanted on offense, much like the rest of the afternoon, as Toronto’s “defense” left a lot to be desired. However, Brooklyn’s defense wasn’t much better, since the Raptors were able to make a relatively open shot almost every time down the floor. This let the Raptors stay in this game until the 3:15 mark, when they really made their final push.
With his team down 98-89, Kyle Lowry drew a foul on Blatche and hit both free throws (Lowry scored 28 points but was just 7-for-19 from the field). Joe Johnson missed a three on the other end, and Lowry hit a shot to bring the deficit down to five. The Nets then went cold, and all of a sudden, with 25 seconds left after more Lowry free throws, the Raptors found themselves down just 101-99.
Deron (13 points on 3-for-8 shooting and 7-for-10 free throws) went on to split a pair of free throws which were followed by a Lowry layup. This made it a one-point game. Livingston was then fouled and hit both freebies before a Terrence Ross layup answered right back. However, that’s when inbounds insanity followed as the Nets(specifically Livingston)–after a timeout–threw the ball right to Ross, who hit it off Pierce to gain possession with 6.2 seconds left.
Down just one with a chance to win, Toronto went to Lowry, who lost the ball before regaining it to put up a contested floater that was blocked by Pierce. It got way too close at the end, but thanks to a huge defensive play from a veteran who has been in Game 7s before, the Nets held on for an enormous win. They earn the chance to take on the Heat in what will be a ridiculously exciting and interesting second round matchup. What a team and what a playoffs.
Some other observations I had from the game: No other observations for today other than that Jason Kidd and Billy King were the true winners of this game. Yes, obviously the Nets’ players that actually played at Air Canada Centre today “won” this Game 7, but the lineups adjustments Kidd made and player moves King made allowed Brooklyn to advance past Toronto. Kidd’s substitution of Alan Anderson for Livingston in the starting lineup in Game 6 and the subsequent Game 7 freed Livingston up to handle the ball for the second unit, making him more effective. And although Anderson didn’t do much today, he was great in Game 6. Furthermore, the new additions this year of Marcus Thornton, Anderson, Pierce, Garnett, Livingston, and Andrei Kirilenko all contributed at least something to this game, with Thornton, Pierce, and KG doing the most. King’s moves may seem perplexing sometimes, but often, they work out well, and as the Nets’ bench can attest to, they came through today.
Looking Ahead
The Nets, who were 4-0 against the Miami Heat this season, fly to Miami tonight in preparation for Tuesday’s Game 1.
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