In their first NBA bubble playoff matchup against the Raptors, the Brooklyn Nets pretty much got ran off the court, falling to the Raptors 134-110. For Toronto that was a franchise record for most points scored in a postseason victory.
The game started off on an 18-6 run in favor of the defending champs and they never looked back ever since, never giving Brooklyn a chance to take a lead or even tie for that matter. At one point the Raptors led by 33. Twice the Nets cut the lead down to eight, and that was the closest they got.
“I think you give Toronto credit. They are [the] champions and have played on the big stage before,” said Nets Head Coach Jacque Vaughn. “Seems like they were trying to deliver an early message to the group. But I did like way our group responded after halftime and accepted that first punch from Toronto. The rounds will continue.”
Production-wise Brooklyn didn’t have too bad of a game, but the Raptors were just clicking on all cylinders.
The Nets shot 46.7% from the field, dished out 33 assists and outscored the Raptors 48-28 in the paint. However, they did struggle from deep shooting 31.0% 3FG. They also struggled to defend, committing 29 fouls (+8 than their season average). The Raptors capitalized off of that, scoring 32 points at the free throw line, only missing one attempt.
The Raptors on the other hand shot 47.1% from the field, and made 22 threes on 50% shooting from deep.
Toronto’s entire starting lineup scored in double digits, led by Fred VanVleet who scored 30 points (going 8-10 from behind the arc) and dished out 11 assists. They also had two bench players score in double digits.
Brooklyn had six players score in double digits, led by Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot who had another dominant game scoring 26 points and grabbing seven rebounds. “It’s going to be a long series, we know that,” said Caris LeVert. “We’re not going to get too high or too low off of one game because there’s definitely things we can take into game 2 that we learned from today. Things that’ll make our job easier out there on the court. We’ve just got to go out there and do those things.”
