Nets 104, Raptors 103
BRUCE ARTHUR AND DOUG SMITH
The pain will last for a very long time, the feeling of being so close only to ultimately fail will linger, as it always does.
The Raptors will remember the fateful last play of a magical season long into the summer because it was a play that so perfectly encapsulates the present and the future.
Kyle Lowry, with not an ounce of quit in him, trying to bull his way to the rim to win a game and cap another amazing comeback, a minor mistake born of inexperience ultimately playing a significant role in a shot not being made. Drama. Disappointment. Promise. An enduring moment in the final splitsecond of a 104-103 Raptors loss to the Brooklyn Nets that ended Toronto’s season in front of the loudest Air Canada Centre basketball crowd ever.
“Just watching Kyle go through the meat-grinder of getting open, the meatgrinder of going to the rim — that will be fresh in my memory throughout the summer,” said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. “That young man did everything he could to get to the basket . . . he tried to will his way to get that extra point.”
But it was ultimately done in by the most subtle of mistakes, tiny errors of omission or commission that teams with young players make in the cauldron of a Game 7 and a valuable learning experience going forward.
Too many of Lowry’s teammates got too close to him. It allowed the Nets to bunch up around him too easily and Paul Pierce ultimately blocked the game-winning attempt.
“You go back to experience: Our spacing wasn’t pristine, guys kind of panicked a little bit and came to the ball, we had two people right in the same spot,” said Casey.
“Terrence (Ross) was supposed to have been in the corner, he came up and stayed there and his guy ended up helping. Being in that situation, a lot of things were happening on that play.”
That the Raptors were even in position to win the series spoke — once again — to their resolve. They were not good for most of the game, there can be no question about that, but they did not go away; down nine points with four minutes to go they kept plugging
away. It was of little consolation right after the game.
A few weeks from now, it will feel better.
“Remember this feeling,” said Lowry, who would finish with a game-high 28 points. “It’s not a good feeling to be going home after the first round and that’s all you can really think about to get better.
“People didn’t expect us to be here but we did. It was a good start for us but unfortunately we came up short in a game we put ourselves in position to win.”
The start of something big was one of the major post-game themes. Stretching the veteran-laded Nets — Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Joe Johnson were outstanding — to the buzzer of Game 7 was an accomplishment.
“We would have loved to have been there, one shot, one free throw, offensive rebound here or there, that close and that’s what I told the team, we’re right there,” said Casey.
“This group has a lot of stuff in front of it, a lot of basketball in front of them, this organization . . . in a great spot and they’re going to be good in the future.”
To the players, though, the present is tough to swallow and with so many of them having had such up and down games, the emotions were all over the place.
DeMar DeRozan, who was under the weather with the flu according to Casey, had a tough three quarters but came alive in the fourth; Amir Johnson started beautifully but ultimately fouled out after a 20-point, 10-rebound night; Jonas Valanciunas was a ghost; Terrence Ross made an astounding play to set up the Lowry drive.
It was like the season itself, a gritty group not giving up and learning valuable lessons in the process.
“Believe me, if that doesn’t motivate them every hot night in the gym they have this summer (to) think about every opportunity they had a chance to do something right, whether it’s make a layup, make a free throw, have the proper spacing . . . ,” said Casey, his voice trailing off.
“This playoff run is nothing but positives for these young men and anyone who thinks anything different doesn’t know basketball.”