Brooklyn Nets lose tough one in overtime to Toronto Raptors
By Omri Benami
The Brooklyn Nets lost a heart breaker on Monday night, 114-113 in overtime to the Toronto Raptors. The Nets played the Raptors tough all night, but in the end DeMar DeRozan was too much to handle.
DeRozan dropped a game high 35 points tonight. Jonas Valanciunas added 21 and 13 rebounds. The Brooklyn Nets played their franchise-record fifth straight game decided by three or fewer points. The remain winless against the Atlantic Division this season.
The Raptors began the game on a 12-1 run, but Brooklyn finished the first half on a 17-8 run.
The Nets got the return of Caris LeVert tonight. LeVert was rusty all night, but had some nice moments with Jarret Allen. Allen played a tough game against Toronto, finishing with 14 points and five rebounds, and a monster dunk over Valanciunas.
The Nets missed DeMarre Carroll in tonight’s game. Luckily, Carroll avoided a major injury, and is day-to-day with a knee sprain according to Kenny Atkinson.
Allen Crabbe stepped up tonight, with 20 points and seven rebounds. Crabbe hit the game-tying lay up with sent the game to overtime. He appeared to be severely injured on the play, but returned with less than a minute to go in the extra period.
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Spencer Dinwiddie, amid “MVP” chants at the Barclays Center, had 31 points and eight assists. Dinwiddie missed on a potential game winner, and again, thought he was fouled on the final drive.
The Nets were up by two in overtime with under a minute to go when Toronto missed a shot. Quincy Acy got the rebound and was stripped immediately by Serge Ibaka. Had Acy held on, it could have won Brooklyn the game, regardless of any foul calls.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had a fantastic night as well, with a double double: 14 points and 17 rebounds.
The Nets once again shot under 40 percent on the night, although they did hit 12 three pointers. Despite the frustration, this and the game against Boston showed that the Nets can really hang with the best teams in the league. These are young players, and they need to learn how to finish, but the talent is there. They have been playing fantastic defense recently. The team is growing each and every game, and moving forward these are games they can win.
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The Nets fell to 15-25 with the loss. They host the Pistons on Wednesday night for the final game of this home stand before traveling to Atlanta.