RAPTORS WIN, BUT IT WAS UGLY
Toronto overcomes awful first half to edge Nets at the ACC,
Dwane Casey said Tuesday morning he felt like he has been screaming at his team over the last few weeks and that no one was listening.
“I’m the only one in the room yelling and screaming, ‘Hey, we’re not as good as we think we are,’ ” the Raptors coach said. “Everybody’s patting everybody on the back.”
That message was an easy sell in the first half of their game against the Brooklyn Nets. The Raptors equalled their worst opening 24 minutes of the season and trailed 58-42.
Inside their locker room during the break, Casey screamed once more and the message finally got through to his players.
The Raptors out-scored the Nets 62-41 in the second half, erased the deficit and held on for a 104-99 win, improving to 42-20. They sent the Nets to 18-46, despite Brook Lopez’s 35 points and seven blocked shots.
DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points and Kyle Lowry added 23 and nine assists as the Raptors shook off their Sunday loss to the Houston Rockets.
“Our guys know they didn’t play well the first half,” Casey said. “It shouldn’t take me going in at halftime jumping up and down and challenging them, ‘Who do you want to be?’ We came out in the second half and that’s who we have to be but we have to start that sooner in the game.”
Casey shuffled his starting lineup, resting power forward Luis Scola (that was announced in the third quarter) for the first time this season and benching forward James Johnson. He started Jason Thompson, who signed with the Raptors a week ago, in Scola’s place, and went with rookie Norman Powell for Johnson.
Thompson had nine points, five rebounds and two blocked shots in 24 minutes. Powell had five points, three rebounds and two assists in 20:32.
“I thought giving Luis a rest tonight was important. I second-guessed it there for a little bit,” Casey said, as he watched Lopez and Nets power forward Thaddeus Young go to town in the first half.
DeRozan scored 13 points in the third to Lowry’s 10, but Lowry’s play was what sparked the Raptors after such a terrible start to the game. His two three-pointers, his three assists and his hustle — he wrestled the ball from Sean Kilpatrick at midcourt to set up a DeRozan reverse layup — brought a moody crowd back onto the Raptors’ side and lifted his teammates.
“I think we have a great group and I think we get along,” Lowry said. “We have lapses but all teams do.”
The Raptors avoided the trend that’s popped up this week with heavy underdogs scoring upsets. The L.A. Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors on Sunday and a severely depleted Memphis team dressed eight players on Monday and managed to get a win in Cleveland against the Cavaliers.
“March Madness,” Lowry joked when asked about the upsets.
“(The season is) a grind. A lot of people don’t understand the work that goes into it every game. Yes, we get paid good money and yes we’re treated very well, but it’s a grind, mentally, physically on your body.
“But your love for the game and the passion you have, we get through it and we appreciate every moment that we step on the floor.”