Win streak against Brooklyn ends with ugly overtime loss
The Toronto Raptors finally played with fire and got burned.
After playing below average for most of the night, the Raptors were unable to pull out a win, losing a 106-105 overtime decision to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.
Fred VanVleet missed a gamewinning three-point attempt at the buzzer to end the Raptors’ poor final possession, and Toronto fell to a Nets team that had carried an eight-game losing streak into the contest.
Toronto had also won its last 12 games against the Nets.
Kawhi Leonard had 32 points to lead Toronto but Kyle Lowry struggled and had only three.
The game was far from an aesthetically pleasing affair, with enough poor shots missed badly to set the cause of professional basketball back a bit.
The Raptors began the fourth quarter missing nine of 11 shots but then went on a 9-0 run when the Nets starting throwing the ball away and running themselves into shot-clock problems repeatedly.
Toronto went to a small lineup to finish the game and provide some energy, with Pascal Siakam and Leonard in the frontcourt with Lowry, VanVleet and Danny Green.
Toronto gave up an astonishing 16 offensive rebounds to the Nets, failing to chase down long rebounds off missed three- pointers and repeatedly being outmuscled at the rim. The Raptors were out-rebounded 60-41 overall.
It was the only way Brooklyn was able to stay in the game and set up the dramatic finish. After a Leonard miss, the Nets had a chance to win in the final five seconds but Spencer Dinwiddie missed a shot at the rim.
Getting one to go: Kyle Lowry had to be the happiest guy in the arena in the second quarter when he finally got a threepointer to go.
The Raptors point guard, who got off the most torrid start of his career in the season’s first month, had made just four of 20 three-pointers heading into the game.
He missed his first one Friday before drilling an open look from the top. Still, he finished 1-for-7 from long distance.
Eastern movement: Teams trying to keep pace with the Raptors made moves on Friday, with Milwaukee getting guard George Hill from Cleveland and the Cavs sending forward Sam Dekker to the Washington Wizards. Hill is not expected to play in Toronto for the Bucks on Sunday.
This and that: The Raptors, as they did in Memphis a week ago, got on a run when they were way behind by playing a long stretch of zone defence in the second quarter … Ed Davis and DeMarre Carroll were the ex-Raptors in the game
Up next: A matchup between the top two teams in the East — and a juicy battle between Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo — when the Raptors host the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday at 6 p.m.