No jitters this time, DeRozan’s 30 leads Raptors
TORONTO DeMar DeRozan poured in 30 points to lift the Toronto Raptors to a 100-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 2 of their playoff series Tuesday, showing none of the post-season jitters that had plagued him in Game 1.
The best-of-seven Eastern Conference series is tied at one game apiece.
Amir Johnson had 16 points and nine rebounds, Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 14 boards for his second double-double of the series, while Kyle Lowry had 14 points, nine boards and six assists. Patrick Patterson added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Atlantic Division champions.
Joe Johnson topped the Nets with 18 points, while Deron Williams had 15, Mirza Teletovic added 14, and Kevin Garnett finished with 13. Toronto outrebounded Brooklyn 52-30.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey predicted a completely different group of players — especially DeRozan — would show up for Game 2 after the majority of them looked overwhelmed by the bright lights of the playoffs in Game 1.
DeRozan poured in seven points early in the fourth — including a massive left-handed dunk that had capacity crowd of 20,382 fans at the Air Canada Centre that included Mayor Rob Ford, Drake and multimillionaire NBA superfan Jimmy Goldstein, roaring.
If there was one glaring negative, it was turnovers — again. The Raptors coughed up 17 points on 21 turnovers. Saturday, they gave up 17 points on 19 turnovers and vowed to clean up the giveaways.