NO CAN' DO
Nets have hearts broken as late rally fails up North
TORONTO — The last time the Nets had come to Canada, they suffered a hammering. But on Monday — after D’Angelo Russell’s last-ditch corner 3 fell off the rim — it was a heartbreaker.
The Nets fell 127-125 to the Raptors before a sellout crowd of 19,800 at Scotiabank Arena.
“We’re obviously disappointed, tough loss, we had our opportunities. But I told the guys we came up here [a month] ago and got our tails handed to us,” said coach Kenny Atkinson, referring to a 122-105 loss on Jan. 11. “We represented ourselves well.”
After rallying from an eight-point fourth-quarter hole — and a six-point deficit with just 2:13 left — the Nets took the lead in the final minute. But they couldn’t hold it.
With just 4.4 seconds to play, Kawhi Leonard (game-high 30 points) hit a go-ahead pull-up bank shot. It became the game-winner when Russell (28 points and a career-high 14 assists) couldn’t answer. His final off-balance shot went awry under heavy pressure from Danny Green.
It was a better performance than their last trek north when they’d trailed by 26 and better than their humbling loss to Chicago on Friday. But the Nets (29-29) have still dropped five of six, and six of seven since Spencer Dinwiddie’s thumb surgery on Jan. 28.
“We played a lot better than we did last time out against Chicago. But at the end of the day it still stings,” Joe Harris said. “We were right there in good position to win. Just a couple things down the stretch execution-wise that we weren’t sure of.”
Most of those errors were on defense, some in the zone. It undercut the Nets going a season high-tying 20-of-41 from 3-point range. Harris had 24 points on 7-of-8 from behind the arc, while Allen Crabbe — in just his third game back after missing nearly two months with a sore knee — added 22 on 6-of-10 from deep.
“We knew we couldn’t come out against the Raptors the way we did against the Bulls,” said Crabbe, who backed up his solid 19point game against Chicago.
The Nets led 92-88 after Shabazz Napier’s fadeaway with 31.9 seconds left in the third, but went cold in a 13-2 run that spanned into the fourth. They shot 1-of-5 with three turnovers, while Marc Gasol had seven points in the run on 3-of-3 shooting. His 3-pointer left the Nets in a 101-94 hole with 9:03 to play.
It was 120-114 after a Kyle Lowry 3 with 2:45 left before Crabbe hit back-toback 3s of his own to knot it at 120-all with 1:34 to go. Caris LeVert then found Russell for a 3-pointer and a 125-122 edge with 50.2 seconds left.
But Green tied it from the right wing. And after Harris got run off the line, he missed a mid-range pull-up to set up Leonard’s winner.
The Nets remain sixth in the East, a game ahead of the seventh-seeded Hornets and 2 ½ clear of the ninth-place Heat despite several tough defeats since losing Dinwiddie.
Dinwiddie didn’t offer a timetable for his return when he spoke to reporters Monday morning, but experts told The Post he should be back within six weeks. He said he avoided needing a full reconstruction and made his surgery decision partly based on using this week’s All-Star break to heal.