Raptors power their way to victory over Nets
Chalk up another first for the Raptors in the most blistering start to a season in franchise history.
Another grind-it-out dismantling of an opponent — this time the Brooklyn Nets to the tune of 105-89 before another Air Canada Centre sellout crowd of 19,800 — has given this group another paragraph in the list of all-time bests.
The win moves Toronto to a heady 20-6 on the season, the first time ever a Raptors team has achieved 20 wins before Christmas.
The earliest a Toronto team has reached 20 wins was after 36 games in both the 1999-2000 and 2001-02 seasons; it took last year’s team until Jan. 29 — 39 games — to get to that plateau.
The victory was achieved in what is becoming typical Raptors’ fashion, with a solid team effort that simply sent waves of talent at an opponent to wear them down.
Kyle Lowry had 20 points and 12 rebounds despite it seeming like a quiet night while Jonas Valanciunas added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
But, as always, it was pretty much everyone.
Patrick Patterson continues to hit shots at an alarming pace, finishing with 13 points on a 5-for-9 night from the field, and Amir Johnson had 13 points.
There was no one standout, no one player who took over the game when it was in the balance; the Raptors simply had too much power all over the floor for the Nets.
With Drake, the team’s global ambassador cheering from his courtside seat, the night ended with an extended standing ovation as Bruno Caboclo played the final minute.
Any misguided attempt to suggest a run-of-the mill December regular-season game would evoke any of the same energy of a deciding game in a playoff series was gone minutes after the game began.
The Raptors came out as flat as they ever have, letting the Nets shoot 60 per cent from the field in the first quarter.
Anyone expecting an “edge” from the hosts didn’t get it; not that even the team’s coach was expecting it.
“I would say they remember,” Dwane Casey said before the game. “Now whether it motivates them or not you would have to ask them.
“I would hope so, but there’s a big difference to what is at stake from then to now. This is one of 82 and it’s a division game so it has a little more weight but it doesn’t have the same monumental feel of Game 7 of last season.
“But the point I’m trying to make is any time you walk on that floor you should be motivated.”
There wasn’t a lot of early motivation but slow starts are something of a habit with this Toronto team. And given how they somehow find a way to right themselves nearly every game, maybe that’s just when they have the lulls that affect every team in almost every game.
They got back in Wednesday’s game with a solid second quarter, holding Brooklyn to just 8-for-27 shooting from the field to take a 53-52 lead at the half.
And it wasn’t as if Brooklyn had visions of last spring’s playoffs in their mind, either.
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Nets gave aged power forward Kevin Garnett the night off to rest, further depleting a roster that has little resemblance to the one that prevailed in that emotional, dramatic seven-game playoff series.
And with a 10-13 record coming into the game, the Nets are more concerned with simply making the playoffs rather than presenting a legitimate challenge to the conference’s best teams.
“There are so many different reasons, new coach, new style of play, different systems,” Casey said of possible explanations for Brooklyn’s slow start to the season. “It takes time. That’s one thing all of us don’t really have a lot of is patience and time.
“We are all guilty of it. I’m guilty of it. Fans are guilty of it. It just takes time for things to work out.”
