To win this series, the Nets need to learn how to close out the Raptors in fourth quarters

In the last five minutes of their last two games in this series, the Brooklyn Nets have been outscored by a combined 29-9. The results of such back-to-back final quarter failures? A near-collapse in Game 3 (that stayed a Nets win) and a late-game scoring drought that handed Game 4, at Barclays, right to the visiting Raptors.

Now, as the Nets gear up for Game 5, which is back in Toronto, they lost the home-court advantage they regained with their Game 1 victory. The series is tied at two games apiece and, if it goes to seven, the Raptors have two home games left to the Nets’ one. That’s not what the Nets like to see, as they went 28-13 at home in the regular season compared to just 16-25 on the road.

Clearly, the Nets are a better team when they play at the Barclays Center, and their record this season reflected as much. However, when it comes down to it, neither team in this series has yet to capitalize on their home games, so this Round 1 matchup is still completely up in the air. It wouldn’t be, though, if the Nets could close out Game 4 in which they sorely outplayed the Raptors for 17 of the 24 minutes in the second half.

If they had done so, the Nets would be up 3-1 with a chance to clinch tomorrow night in Toronto. Even further, had the Raptors completed their near-complete comeback in Game 3, as they tried to fight their way back from a 15-point deficit, they would have won that game and would be up 3-1 in the series as opposed to being tied. The Nets would have lost both their games at Barclays and would have a chance to possibly be eliminated in Game 5.

I know those are a lot of hypotheticals, but with the way the Nets have been slacking off late in games, they were just a few bounces away from happening in the Raptors’ favor. So Brooklyn should probably be thankful that the series is where it’s at right now, all tied up, because it means there are a max of three more games left to reverse the dangerous fourth quarter trend. All the Nets have to do is fix their problem two more times–in addition to playing well early in games as well–to escape Toronto and move onto the second round against Miami.