TORONTO — For a change, the Nets didn’t overlook a shorthanded foe.
They overwhelmed them.
The Nets used withering protection and a third-quarter blitz Wednesday to beat the Raptors, 112-98, earlier than a sellout crowd of 19,800 at Scotiabank Enviornment.
The Nets bounced again from Tuesday’s humiliation in Philadelphia, flying north an evening later and holding Toronto to 35.6 p.c general and simply 7 of 29 from deep.
How good was the protection? The Nets received simply 12 factors from Kevin Durant — however the 10 steals and 11 blocks had him completely happy within the locker room.
“We’re within the enterprise for successful,” stated Kyrie Irving, who poured in a game-high 29 factors. “So we’ll take this one, particularly after [Tuesday] evening’s loss and the entire web going up in an uproar when it comes to how embarrassed we must be — which is true — and we simply needed to verify we paid consideration to element. We got here out and responded.”
Particularly Irving. He had 26 factors after the break, the highest-scoring second half of any Internet this season. Irving had 19 in a 3rd quarter that noticed the Nets outscore Toronto 39-25 and blow the sport open.
“Simply being Kyrie,” Ben Simmons stated. “That’s what we wish him to do — simply being himself to have that confidence to return out and take these pictures and be who he's.”
Granted, the Raptors (9-9) had been taking part in with out Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes, however that made this precisely the sort of entice recreation that Brooklyn had spent the previous couple of weeks falling into.
“We performed right down to the extent of competitors,” Markieff Morris stated of trailing early within the third. “They’re clearly a very good group however they'd a bunch of gamers out. We did the identical s–t [Tuesday] evening and tried to appropriate that.”
Since Jacque Vaughn changed Steve Nash, the Nets’ protection has gone from incompetent to inconsistent, extra of an up-and-down curler coaster based mostly on their engagement degree. And that degree has dipped when dealing with shorthanded foes.
They misplaced to the LeBron James-less Lakers, had the worst defensive efficiency in franchise historical past dealing with a Kings group on an NBA-record 16-year playoff drought, after which fell in Philadelphia towards a 76ers squad lacking Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey. Irving admitted there have been classes discovered.
“I'm going to the human nature a part of there was no Harden, no Embiid, no Maxey. And that’s the trustworthy fact,” Vaughn stated. “All of us have a hand we’ve handled; these are the playing cards. … We nonetheless had our full boat, however we didn’t play like we had aces over kings.”
Brooklyn was all aces Wednesday, taking pictures 54.9 p.c with each starter in double figures — and it was fueled by the protection.
Simmons had 14 factors, six assists, three steals and two blocks. Nic Claxton added 14 factors, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. And in his quiet evening, Durant was a game-high plus-30 with seven boards, 5 assists, three blocks and a few engagement on protection, visibly getting on Joe Harris for a defensive miscue.
“Our movie session was very open, and let’s speak about a few of these eventualities which are taking place as a result of we wish that to proceed onto the court docket,” Vaughn stated. “Actually making an attempt to get this to group to open up, demand of one another, discuss on the market on the ground. It’s an enormous a part of us being higher defensively. When the group maintain one another accountable that’s what you need.”
The Nets stormed out of the beginning blocks, going up 38-23 on an Edmond Sumner reverse with 47.3 seconds left within the first.
Even after they let it dissipate, falling behind 53-52 on Christian Koloko’s tip-in, they seized the momentum proper again with an 18-4 run.
Simmons’ chopping dunk off a Claxton help put Brooklyn up 68-57. And when he stole the ball from Gary Trent Jr. and went in for a breakaway dunk with 8:16 left within the third, it capped the run and put the Nets forward 70-57.
They padded it to 109-88 on a tip-in by Day’Ron Sharpe, who additionally hit a 3.
“It actually was a normal that we've to have for one another. A part of it's ending performs. You didn’t see as many breakdowns on the finish of performs, the focus degree,” Vaughn stated. “An enormous piece of that's simply holding every in a better commonplace. … You noticed that. Much more discuss, much more communication, much more demand of one another, which was nice to see.”
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