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Brooklyn Nets go winless at home in January

By Anthony Puccio

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Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

BROOKLYN -- It appeared like it would be another one 'those nights' early. The Raptors opened up the game on a 16-3 run and the Toronto faithful triumphed with, "LETS GO RAPTORS" chants.

The assumption was wrong, but the Nets still fell short, 127-122.

Like we've seen all season, Brooklyn was on the wrong side of the scoreboard by third quarter's end; Nine to be exact. Unlike the team that we're used to seeing, Brooklyn fought their way back into the game and worked the beginning of it all with a 15-2 run which gave them their first lead of the night since the 8:59 mark of the second quarter.

As the game came down to the wire, Joe Johnson nailed a step-back jump shot to put Brooklyn up two with 33 seconds remaining. It was just the beginning of heroic plays from both sides. The Nets lead was up to two after a Brook Lopez free throw, but Patrick Patterson answered with a wide-open dunk to knot the game up at 113 apiece.

The Nets inbounded the ball to Brook Lopez at the top of the key, wide open, but the big fella missed as time expired.

In overtime, both teams were exchanging buckets, but Amir Johnson grabbed a crucial offensive rebound, then put it back with 42 seconds left. The entire Nets bench jumped, exclaiming that he traveled before scoring the bucket. On the following play, the Nets missed, but grabbed an offensive rebound just to see Bojan Bogdanovic miss a wide-open three-pointer. DeMar DeRozan sealed the deal at the line with two made free throws.

It's a backbreaking loss for the guys in white. They've lost 12 of the last 14 and finished winless at home during the month of January.

Jarrett Jack scored a career-high and finished with a near triple-double with 35 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds and one steal. He logged 52 minutes, only sitting out for one minute in the game.

"It sucks, especially when you battle back; And the thing about this team is that there's no moral victories, but you try to look at the bright side of everything." said Jack. "We started off 10-0, but throughout the course of the game, they handled the game for the majority of the first half and to come out and fight and put up an effort against a damn good team. I thought we just represented ourselves well tonight. We came out and fought hard, we just came up short on a couple possessions."

The Nets shot 48.5% from the field and scored 62 points in the paint, but Toronto's 26-of-30 from the line paid it's dues to the Toronto victory. The Nets owned a 14-9 advantage on the offensive glass -- 50-45 overall -- something Lionel Hollins has said time and time again that the Nets are not a good rebounding team. Most blame Brook Lopez for that problem, but no fingers were pointed his way in this one.

Lopez scored 35 points and 12 rebounds on 15-28 shooting in 41 minutes. Eight of his 12 rebounds were on the offensive glass. Jack and Lopez became the first Nets' teammates to scored 35+ points in the same game since 1981. It was Lopez's best numbers since March 2013 when he had a career-high 38 points to go with 11 boards and a block in a win over Dallas.  Still, Brook was one wide-open bucket away from saving the Nets:

"They have to respect Jarrett and Joe coming off the screens, so they left me open. Bojan made the play and threw it to me; I thought I had a great look. I'm confident in knocking it down nine times out of ten. I'm looking forward to doing it next time, hopefully."

DeMar DeRozan was the high man for Toronto, finishing with 26 points and nine assists -- not to mention that he nailed one of the biggest shots of the game. Amir Johnson wasn't the high man, but he was certainly the savior with his clutch offensive rebound. He scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds on 10-of-11 shooting.

Joe Johnson scored 17 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while Mason Plumlee chipped in 12 points and Bojan Bogdanovic with 11 and eight rebounds. Kevin Garnett only logged nine minutes and was the only starter to not finish in double figures.

"It's a shame that we can't be in there smiling right now because we played well enough to win," Coach Hollins said after the game.

Brooklyn's next game is Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, a team that beat them by 39 points in their last outing.

Quarter by quarter summary:

First quarter ... The Raptors started the game on a 16-3 run while shooting the ball at 70%. Meanwhile, Brooklyn started 1-of-10 from the field and looked very sluggish. However, the Nets relied on Jarrett Jack to get them back in the game. Jack scored seven points, finished with nine and helped Brooklyn close out the quarter with a 20-13 advantage, bringing the deficit down to six before quarter's end. The Raptors led, 29-23.

Second quarter ... The Nets got off to an 11-4 run to begin the second with Brook Lopez and Jarrett Jack combing for 26 of the first 32 points. They regained the lead at one point, but the Raptors gathered control and finished the half with a 12 point advantage. The Raptors shot 59% and Lou Williams led the team with 15 points.

For Brooklyn, Brook Lopez led all scorers in the half with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, Jack with 14 on 6-of-13. They were 50% as a whole, but 1-of-9 from three. It was a 37-29 third quarter advantage for Toronto.

Score at the half: Raptors 66, Nets 54.

Third quarter ... The Nets and Raptors stayed consistent with the game's pace throughout the third quarter. The Raptors shot 11-of-24 in the quarter, while Brooklyn shot 12-of-22 and outscored them, 28-24. Jarrett Jack continued to play at a high level with 25 points and seven assists. His career-high is 33 points. The only problem: He logged 35 minutes through the first three quarters.

The Raptors led, 91-82, heading into the fourth quarter.

Fourth quarter ... The Nets were down by nine heading into the fourth quarter, but went on a 15-2 run and took the lead for the first time since the 8:59 mark of the second quarter. The significance? Well, finally the Brooklyn Nets were putting up a fight, something that's been scarce lately.

The Raptors were up 111-110 with under 40 seconds remaining when Joe Johnson executed his step-back jumper to perfection, giving the Nets a 112-111 lead with 33 seconds left. Still, the two teams were tied at 113 apiece following a wide-open dunk from Patterson.

It was hero time... for Brook Lopez. Bogdanovic inbounded the ball to a wide-open Lopez, but the big fella missed as time expired. Hello overtime!

OT: Patrick Patterson grabbed a crucial offensive rebound, then put-back, with 1:41 remaining and a three point lead for Toronto. However, Brook Lopez answered with an and-one, knotting the game up at 120 apiece, 1:24 remaining.

The Raptors outscored the Nets 15-9 in OT and won the game by a margin of five. It was all thanks to an Amir Johnson putback with 42 seconds remaining.

Final score: Raptors 127, Nets 122.

For more on the Toronto Raptors, check them out at Raptors HQ.

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