NET EVEN CLOSE
Raptors dominate B'klyn to take commanding 3-0 lead
The Nets’ odds to advance into the next round of the playoffs are longer than the three-quarter court heave Fred VanVleet made at the halftime buzzer. As in long beyond belief.
The Nets lost 117-92 to the Raptors in Friday’s first-round Game 3 at the Field House in Orlando. They trailed wire-to-wire in falling into a 0-3 hole that no team in NBA history has escaped from — and showing no signs of being the first.
Already decimated, the Nets saw Joe Harris leave the NBA campus for a family emergency. Their roster attrition has reached an event horizon from which there’s no return.
“When you don’t have all the components of your card it puts stress on different parts, and that was the result. Just put extra stress on different individuals to make plays they might not have had to if Joe was here,” said interim coach Jacque Vaughn, already without Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie and DeAndre Jordan. They face elimination Game 4 Sunday without their best shooter.
“The message leaving the locker room is, as a Net, you have a standard — a standard is a standard. We’ll put on our compete ability and be ready for the next game. The fortunate part is we do have a next game. That’s the challenge for us is to win that.”
Tyler Johnson replaced Harris in the lineup and had a career playoff-high 23 points. But without Harris’ gravity to stretch the defense, this was a rout — a huge statement for re-signing the pending free agent.
“Joe is obviously one of the best 3-point shooters in the world. Without him we’re struggling a little,” center Jarrett Allen said. “But still confident in our guys to make the 3s. It’s just one of those nights that we didn’t.”
Clearly. The Raptors packed the lane to take away Allen, holding him without a single shot attempt and Brooklyn to just 22 points in the paint. The Nets couldn’t make Toronto pay, shooting 33.3 percent from the floor and 16 of 51 from behind the arc.
“For us it’s can we have one of those games on Sunday, limit as many mistakes as possible and make shots with guys who’ve proven they can make shots,” Johnson said. “Obviously we know how shorthanded we are; but at the end of the day if you go into games with that excuse then you might as well not show up and play.”
Two players who couldn’t buy a shot were Garrett Temple and Timothe-Luwawu-Cabarrot, who combined to hit 5 of 30 overall and 3 of 20 from 3.
Meanwhile, Toronto was led by Pascal Siakam (26 points, eight rebounds), Serge Ibaka (20 points, 13 boards) and VanVleet (22 points).
When the Nets got caught napping, after Caris LeVert (15 points, zero in the second half) hit a 3 with 0.8 seconds left in the half, they stopped playing defense. VanVleet pushed the ball and banked in a 52-footer to beat the buzzer. And by the dropped heads and sagging shoulders, he beat Brooklyn as well.
The Nets fell behind 16-5 right out of the gate and trailed 24-17 after one, their lowest-scoring first quarter since Feb. 26 at Washington according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Even after Rodions Kurucs’ reverse to open the second, they allowed 11 unanswered points. They went down 35-19 on OG Anunoby’s layup and never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
With the Nets down by 19 in the fourth, they saw a 10-0 Toronto run blow it open.
“[My scoring] really doesn’t matter; we still fell short. Personal success doesn’t really mean anything if you’re down 3-0 in a series,” Johnson said.
“That’s the great challenge, and I hope our group accepts that challenge. This is an unprecedented time,” said Vaughn. “You have moments in your life that you can hold onto. We can embrace this time, and you never know what happens if you win one game.”