Nets fizzle late, and so does win streak
TORONTO — The Nets were out of gas and running on fumes, so it shouldn’t have been surprising that they sputtered.
One night after an emotionally wrenching double-overtime win over the Heat, the Nets went cold in the second half of a 96-80 loss to the Atlantic Divisionle ad i ng Toront o Raptors Saturday at Air Canada Centre, snapping a fivegame winning streak. The Nets’ first loss of 2014 also perhaps paved the way for Jason Kidd to finally resume wearing a tie; the coach had gone with the open-collar look during the streak.
While the Nets (15-22) looked like a team in need of a nap in falling behind by 13 in the second quarter, they perked up, outscoring the Raptors 14-1 to start the third and pushing the lead up to 10 at one point. In those moments, they looked nothing like a team that had logged heavy minutes the night before, which led to Kidd resting Kevin Garnett on Saturday as rookie Mason Plumlee made his first start.
But that was before they were victimized by the brilliance of DeMar DeRozan, who scored the final seven points of the third quarter and nine straight overall to rescue the Raptors (18-17) and keep the Nets from gaining ground i n the division.
“I just think the last six minutes of the third it was tough for us to execute,” said Paul Pierce, who led the Nets with 15 points on only nine shots. “We turned the ball over and we were up 10 points and had a chance to really do some damage. It was just one of those things when I think fatigue really set in for us, didn’t really have quite the depth because we rested Kevin. Of course you already know about the injuries and we still had a chance there.”
While DeRozan (26 points) was draining shots and running on the emotion of the crowd, the Nets seemed spent. Joe Johnson shot just 4-of-13 for 11 points after scoring a team-high 32 points in 46 minutes on Friday.
“Guys were definitely tired, you know from last night, getting in late,” Johnson said. “This is what we signed up for. No excuses and we just came up short tonight.”
The Raptors closed the third quarter on a 16-2 run and led 68-64 heading into the fourth, when they outscored the Nets 28-16. When Andrei Kirilenko finally connected on a layup to cut the deficit to 78-67 midway through the fourth, it was the Nets’ first field goal in 9:01.
Shortly before that, Toronto had run off 18 straight points on an evening that was christened “Drake Night,” dedicated to the Torontoborn rapper and team “Global Ambassador” Drake.
“We played a lot of minutes,” said Shaun Livingston, who logged a career-high 51 on Friday and finished with eight points Saturday in 30 minutes. “It was a tough stretch, a tough turnaround, but you see we fought. It was a winnable game.”