The Brooklyn Nets played a terrific 1st quarter and a fair 1st half before the roof caved in on them in a 118-91 loss to the Toronto Raptors Wednesday.
Maybe before Jan. 11, the Brooklyn Nets will figure out how to get a full 48 minutes through Canadian Customs.
The Nets played a strong first quarter against the Toronto Raptors at Bell Centre in Montreal and led at the half 59-56 before collapsing under a wave of turnovers in the second half as the Raptors rallied to route the Nets 118-91.
Brooklyn (1-2) turned the ball over 22 times in the second half alone as Toronto (3-1) outscored the Nets 62-32 after intermission. The Raptors got 20 points off 15 Brooklyn turnovers in the third quarter alone.
That was when the game turned dramatically. After Jarrett Allen opened the scoring for the Nets with a corner 3, Toronto ran off 12 straight points to surge ahead 70-62. The onslaught got worse from there, with the Raptors outscoring the Nets 35-11 in the quarter to take a 91-70 lead.
The Nets sat out Ed Davis and DeMarre Carroll for rest on Wednesday.
Brooklyn played its third straight preseason game without Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (strained left abductor) and Shabazz Napier (strained right hamstring), while Allen Crabbe did not play after spraining his left ankle Monday night at Detroit.
Jordan McLaughlin, Nuni Omot and Theo Pinson took DNP-CDs for the second consecutive game.
The Raptors did not play Norman Powell due to tenderness in his left illotibial band, while veteran Greg Monroe sat out along with Deng Adel, Kay Felder and Eric Moreland as DNP-CDs.
Allen led the Nets with 24 points, with D’Angelo Russell adding 18. Caris LeVert tossed in 13 points and Joe Harris scored 10. Spencer Dinwiddie paced Brooklyn with seven rebounds and eight assists, LeVert added three steals and Russell blocked a pair of shots.
Danny Green scored 22 points and had five steals to lead Toronto. Kawhi Leonard grabbed seven rebounds and handed off seven assists to go with four steals. Serge Ibaka was active with 13 points and five blocks.
There was even a bit of controversy at game’s end when rookie Jordan Loyd took a steal and slam dunked the ball with 1.3 seconds left.
Brooklyn veteran Jared Dudley sought out Loyd after the game to talk about the play, while Nets coach Kenny Atkinson confronted Nick Nurse, his opposite number for Toronto, and pointed at Loyd after the buzzer.
Here is five takeaways from what turned into a rough, rough night for the Nets.