Nets Get Slaughtered By Raptors in Fourth Quarter, Still Winless in 2017

facebooktwitterreddit

113. 147. Final. 132. 81

The Brooklyn Nets lose their ninth straight, as a one-point game at the half and a one-point game at the end of the third turned into a fourth quarter blowout in Toronto.

Brooklyn has now lost their last six games to Toronto, and they have the NBA’s worst losing streak (9). Isaiah Whitehead was out with an injury, so Spencer Dinwiddie got his first start for the Brooklyn Nets.

Bojan Bogdanovic led the Nets in scoring with 23 points, shooting 56 percent from the field. Brook Lopez registered 20 points but struggled shooting, going 6-of-17.  DeMar DeRozan had the game-high with 28 points.

Justin Hamilton and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson came off the bench and provided a lift to the Nets to keep the first quarter close. Brooklyn shot 50 percent from three, 46 percent from the field, with only one turnover to trail Toronto 30-27 at the end of one.

MUST READ: Five Players the Nets Should Keep

The Nets started the second quarter with an 8-0 run. Randy Foye had five assists in seven minutes from finding an open Bogdanovic, who was 3-of-4 from deep. Bogdanovic scored 11 points in his first nine minutes of action. The Nets would win the second quarter, outscoring the Raptors 26-24.

Brooklyn only trailed by one at halftime, 54-53. Bogdanovic led the Nets in scoring with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Lopez scored 11 points in the first, shooting 40 percent from the field. Joe Harris was not just the only starter to not score in the first half; he was the only Net to get playing time and not register a single point in the first half. Jonas Valanciunas was the only Raptor to score in double digits (10) at the break.

More from Nothin' But Nets

The Nets weren’t running through the third with their woes in Toronto. Some great ball movement gave the Nets a 71-67 lead with a little over seven minutes left to play in the quarter. However, the lead was short-lived, as Toronto answered back with a run of their own. This was capped off by a Kyle Lowry three in transition to lift the Raptors and retake the lead 79-77 with three minutes left in the quarter.

A beautiful floater from Sean Kilpatrick ended the quarter and cut the Toronto lead to one: 90-89 Raptors at the end of the third. DeRozan scored 19 points in the third quarter.

Toronto came out swinging in the fourth, going on an 21-2 run to start the final quarter. The Raptors scored 28 points, and there were still over five minutes left in the game. Besides getting destroyed in the fourth quarter, the Nets were outscored 42-24 (the most points the Nets have allowed in any quarter this season). Brooklyn was also abused in the paint all night, being outscored and out-rebounded.

Next: Top 5 Moments in Nets Franchise History

The Nets fall to 8-31 on the season. Their next game will be in Brooklyn on Sunday against the Houston Rockets.