The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Toronto Raptors 107 to 100 in their first regular season game in the brand new Barclays Center. The Raptors came out to a blazing hot start scoring 35 points in the first quarter at 62.5%. But the Nets manage to fight back into the game, scoring 33 points in the second quarter to take the lead at halftime, a lead that Toronto never managed to comeback from.
On a night, the supporting Raptors struggled, Kyle Lowry (28 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds) and Demar DeRozan (25 points) put the team on their backs and carried 53% of the offense. The 8 turnovers in the second quarter killed Toronto and destroyed the beautiful ball movement they had in the first quarter.
Brooklyn outscored Raptors in paint 52 to 34, much thanks to Brook Lopez who led all Nets with 27 points, Deron William added 19 points and 9 assists. Raptor's early reliance on the jumper, which did hit early came back to haunt them and only resorted to attack the basket late in the game.
Offensive End:
The Raptors like to look for Andrea Bargnani and Demar Derozan early. Andrea usually set a a pick early and instead of rolling hard like the other big men on the Raps, he flares out for a jumper. Demar Derozan get freed by off ball screens (2 of them and allows him to get the ball at the other wing).
Kyle Lowry likes to push the ball off a missed shot, in this game, he took the first shot available. If the defense is set, he will run a pick and roll to attack the basket and will kick out to the open man if given the opportunity.
Jose Calderon is a lot different, he likes to slowly dissect the defense and often (basically all the time) use the pick and roll to create offense.
From what I can remember Brooklyn didn't have specific offensive tactic, the only thing was the deep baseline screen, used to free the player that will likely shoot the ball upon catching it. Otherwise, it is just Deron William's dribble penetration to create chaos within the defense. They did start sloppy early, especially Joe Johnson, who did struggle tonight shooting 5 for 13, with 14 points. He forced a lot of shots, but did not revert back to ISO-JOE, which is a good sign for the Nets.
Defensive End:
Toronto looked great in the 1st quarter, rotating in symphony, reading the offense well and timed the help perfectly, but it ended there. There was a period of good defense in the fourth quarter comeback, it was just too late.
As you would have predicted, the Net's defense was not great either. They do hedge the pick and roll surprsingly well, other than that, they need to work on their rotation, they were slow to recover and the Raptors bailed them out by taking jumpers. When Reggie Evans is on, the defense turns to another level, he really bothers the bigs.
The Moments:
- Brook Lopez has a serious T-Shirt tan, distracted and bothered me the entire game.
- The Betty White temporary tattoo promised, did not happen. Which makes Deron Williams the worst person ever.
- Not once did Jay Z and Beyonce looked excited when the camera was on them. It is no Knicks vs. Net, but it was still a tight game.
Rookie Watch:
Jonas Valanciunas didn't get much action today, got in foul trouble early, finished with 2 points and 3 rebounds.
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