The season is over. It really hurts to say that— especially considering the blood, sweat, and tears that the Toronto Raptors dripped this afternoon. Following a 104-103 win at the ACC, the Brooklyn Nets will be moving on to the Eastern Conference semifinals for a date with the Miami Heat.
Even though a loss was the final result, the Raptors should be proud of the grit they played with throughout this dogfight of a series.
For a good chunk of this game 7, it looked as if Brooklyn would pull away with a convincing victory. However, Toronto fought until the bitter end. There was an opportunity to win. This one definitely stings, but the team will be back. #WeTheNorth, #TheNorthRemembers, etc.
Offense: B+
When looking at the team as a whole, offense didn’t seem to be the problem in this elimination game. Not only did the Raptors shoot a solid 48%, but they had just 9 turnovers today, and they got off to a great start. Amir Johnson was hobbled after getting tripped up early on, but like the rest of the team, he fought. While Toronto was stuck 8 at halftime, Amir had 18 points courtesy of a flurry of pick-and-roll sets and garbage buckets. The thing is, he only finished with 20. What held him back from finishing with a higher point total? One can argue that foul trouble is the answer. More on that later.
Still, some credit has to given to the Nets. In the game’s earlier stages, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan were severely slowed down by the pesky perimeter defense of Brooklyn. Although the two Toronto stars were able to find somewhat of a rhythm in the second half, the Nets never made anything easy for the backcourt duo. DeRozan finished with 18 points (5/12 FGA) while Lowry scored 28 (7/19) in the loss.
Although Terrence Ross was more active today, his offensive play wasn’t enough to get the men in white over the hump. He scored in double digits for the first time in the series this afternoon, finishing with 11. His sophomore partner Jonas Valanciunas wasn’t so fortunate on this day.
Simply put, JV was stopped. Credit Kevin Garnett and Andray Blatche for taking the Raptor big man off his spots and limiting him to just three points on five shot attempts. With Toronto’s man in the middle essentially neutralized, Patrick Patterson came off the bench to provide a much-needed offensive boost for the Raptors. Unfortunately, the rest of backups weren’t able to follow suit. While Patterson netted 16 points in 33 minutes of playing time, the other bench players only combined for only 7. Greivis Vasquez in particular only scored two points in the traumatizing defeat.
With all of this in play, Toronto only lost by a single point. The after-timeout plays down the stretch actually worked, and if not for Kyle Lowry coming up short on a contested runner in the lane, the Raptors would be packing for Miami for a game on Tuesday, rather than a season-ending vacation. If you’re wondering, yes, there was quite a bit of contact on the final shot. Enough for a foul call sending Lowry to the line with a chance to eliminate Brooklyn, right? Apparently not. It’s safe to say that this play will be remembered for a long, long time.
Defense: C+
It’s fairly safe to assume that Raptors coach Dwane Casey would agree with a much lower grade had this evaluation been solely based on the first half of this game. Allowing 61 points in a half is never a recipe for success, whether preseason, regular season, or in a decisive game 7. The Raptors did that this afternoon. On the bright side, they tightened things up in the second half enough to have an opportunity to win during the game’s final possession.
Despite slowing down Deron Williams (13 points and 4 assists), the Toronto Raptors weren’t able to stop Joe Johnson from wreaking havoc on the floor. With Paul Pierce limited due to foul trouble for most of the game, Iso Joe was up to his usual tricks, exposing the Raptors with 1-on-1 post ups on the elbow all afternoon. With no sure-fire answer to this go-to play, Toronto was forced to send double teams quite often, leaving other Brooklyn shooters open in the process. From an efficiency standpoint, the Raptors did enough to make Joe Johnson’s afternoon look rough on the stat sheet (26 points on 11/25 FG), but his presence throughout this one really hurt the Atlantic Division champions.
Marcus Thornton played the role of x-factor for the Nets in this one— and he definitely left his mark on the game too. The Brooklyn guard came of the bench to light up Toronto for 17 large, hitting four three pointers in the process. To be fair, not all of his looks were wide open. He was just “on” in this series-deciding game.
The defensive component of this report card wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the amazing (near)-comeback that the Raps were able to pull off in the fourth. They entered the final frame down by eight points and knocked on the door for a quite a while before almost breaking through. Amir Johnson – who was undoubtedly having the best playoff game of his career – fouled out with 7:53 remaining in the period, courtesy of one of many questionable calls that stung both Raptor players and fans alike all afternoon. Still, the Raptors refused to roll over. They started to get crucial stops, and before they knew it, they were right back in the thick of things. It began to look like the duel in Brooklyn where Patrick Patterson had hit a game winner after coming away with a huge steal. Such a miraculous ending wasn’t in the cards today though.
In the waning moments of game 7, Dwane Casey elected to roll the dice with the “quick two, then steal/foul” game, and it worked to perfection. Toronto had cut the lead to one.
Brooklyn was inbounding. As the ball was thrown, Terrence Ross was able to tip it and then somehow direct the ball to the leg of Paul Pierce, sending it out of bounds! Toronto had gained possession with six seconds remaining and a chance to move on to the second round! But it didn’t happen. The shot didn’t fall.
Rebounding: C
Once again, the Raptors were somehow outrebounded by a relatively small Nets team. The margin wasn’t that bad, with Brooklyn coming out on top 42-38. What justifies this “C” grade is the 16 offensive boards that the Nets were able to grab. When stops were at a premium, Toronto occasionally failed to account for Brooklyn’s weak side rebounders when long jumpshots were hoisted by the opposition. One less Nets rebound could have made all the difference.
This afternoon, KG pulled down a game high 11 rebounds, while Amir Johnson led the way for Toronto with 10 boards of his own. Patrick Patterson and Kyle Lowry grabbed 8 and 7 boards respectively, while JV – who averaged double digit rebounding totals in the first six games of the series – only finished with 5.
Game Ball – Joe Johnson
The last Raptors Cage game ball of the season goes to Iso Joe, who without a doubt played like an all-star all series long— even though it can be argued that he didn’t play like one during the regular season. The Nets swingman showed up when it mattered the most, and continued presenting problems for the young Raptors. In doing so, he exposed the flaws that players like DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross will be sure to work on this summer. This was definitely a heartbreaking loss, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s see what Raptors GM Masai Ujiri does to approach that light during this offseason.
https://twitter.com/DeMar_DeRozan/status/463090443249393664
