It’s hard to imagine a worse Monday for the Nets.
Hours after they were told there would be no exceptions for Kyrie Irving, they lost Steve Nash to health and safety protocols. They then suffered a 133-97 loss to Toronto before 17,112 at the Barclays Center, which was doubly damaging.
The eighth Brooklyn (32-30) missed a game he had to win, losing a vital place to the Raptors and lagging even deeper behind them in the game rankings. The Nets are seventh behind Toronto with two full games in 20 upcoming games and the home and home rematch set for Tuesday at the Scotiabank Arena.
“Yes, we are two games behind seventh place. So yes, it’s huge, “said Bruce Brown. “We have to win this victory in Toronto, especially after they came here and did what they wanted in our gym. This is unacceptable, so we have to go there and take it to them. ”
The Nets received this on Monday.
After losing to Nash just moments before the warm-up before the game, they came out and looked in a terrible mess.
The Nets were ignited by Toronto’s Scotty Barnes, who scored 28 points in 12 of 14 shots and 16 rebounds, both of the highest in the game. Although they managed to keep Pascal Siakam by only eight points in 2 of 14 shots, they still blew away, such was their unfortunate game in almost every other aspect.
The Nets were just 38.4 percent overall and made 23 turnovers to give the Raptors 31 points. LaMarcus Aldridge had just 15 points, and Brown and Cam Thomas added 14 in one awful offensive night.
Brooklyn fell 39 points behind Utah Watanabe’s 3-pointer for Toronto’s 129-90 lead with 3:37 left.
The Nets are 3 ¹ / ₂ behind the inactive sixth-placed Boston Celtics and the final guaranteed place in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But at this point, the Nets – losing 14 of 17 – should be more concerned about Tuesday’s quick turnaround against the same Raptors.
“[That’s] very useful “, said the assistant Jacques Vaughan, who will act as head coach until Nash’s return. We hope our boys are ready for this and look forward to going to Toronto and dealing with the fact that we could have played better tonight and will play better. [Tuesday]”
The Nets will not have any of their new Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving or Ben Simmons for Tuesday’s rematch in this match, and facing the prospect of being eliminated three games behind with 19 games played is daunting.
“I want to say that for us at the moment every game is important. “We know how it goes,” said James Johnson. “We have to take them all, and that’s the bottom line. I feel like once we get there, I like our chances against everyone.”