The Brooklyn Nets played in their final game before the All-Star break, hosting a 40-15 Raptors squad. The Raptors coming into the game with a 15 game win streak with no intention of ending it any time soon. The Nets had other ideas though entering the All-Star break in winning their second game in a row, and sixth in the last eight, while ending Toronto’s 15 game win streak, 101-91. The Nets might end up seeing the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the as the Nets hold the seventh seed and Toronto holds the second.
If this stays as is, the Nets will need to play like they did Wednesday in order to have any chance of getting to the second round.
The Nets came out in the first quarter with a ton of energy on defense holding a high scoring Raptors squad to just 19 points. They ended the first quarter with a 4 point lead being up 23-19. They continued their defense in the second quarter and extended their lead to double digits. They went into half-time with a 52-40 lead.
After the third quarter ended the Raptors trimmed the deficit to 10 points. In the fourth quarter DeAndre Jordan and Garrett Temple put home consecutive and-one’s to get Brooklyn a 80-65 point lead. Toronto then got chipped back into it trimming the lead to only ten, but Spencer Dinwiddie scored five straight points to get the lead back to 15 points with a little over five minutes remaining. The Nets kept their lead and snapped the 15 game win streak that the Raptors had going.
Chris LeVert was the key to success all night for the Nets finishing with 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals. He’s now averaging 24 points in the last five games and seems to be the shinning star for the Nets.
The Nets do not play again till February 20 against the 76ers to try to scoop up their 3rd straight win in a row.
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