Nets 101
Raptors 90
TORONTO – Yesterday morning, nearly a dozen TV cameras caught every word for posterity, or at least the 6 p.m. newscast. Twice that many reporters, crammed notepad to tape recorder, were firing questions. Vince Carter was back in Toronto for the first time since his Dec. 17 trade to the Nets, asked to address everything from Raptors executives past and present to the sport of curling.
Through it all, Carter tried to drive home one salient point.
“I’m here to win a basketball game. I’m here to get into the playoffs,” Carter said.
He won a game. The playoffs, well, that’s another matter.
Amid an incredibly hostile environment where fans booed every time Cater touched the ball, even in warmups; where folks wore No. 15 bibs and brandished signs proclaiming everything from “Wimp-Sanity” to “Half Man, Half Effort;” Toronto’s former icon arose and scored 39 points, 24 in the second half, when the Nets rallied and knocked off the Raptors, 101-90, to keep their playoff hopes alive.
“He got in the foxhole. Down 14 or 15 at half, he came in and said, ‘It’s not over,’ ” said Jason Kidd (15 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists), who again flirted with a triple-double.
With Carter’s mother in the front row, and with signs attacking his closeness to her, Carter attacked back and showed the fans who once adored him a thing or 39.
“Boos are boos,” Carter said. “You notice it when you get out there, but my focus was on getting the job done and trying to get a win. This game wasn’t for bragging rights, this was for the opportunity to get into the playoffs, get one step closer to the playoffs. That was my focus more than anything else. I was trying to stay even-keeled and just play my game.”
Carter started slow, missing four of five shots. He roared back and made 12 of 14 shots at one point, including six of seven in a blistering start to the third quarter that contained a 26-8 Nets run. That barrage eradicated a 55-41 Raptors halftime lead and lifted the Nets (39-40) to within one game of Cleveland (40-39, a 119-111 loser to Washington last night) for eighth place in the Eastern Conference, staying two behind seventh-place Philadelphia (41-38, a 90-86 winner in Indiana).
After the Raptors took early control employing Jalen Rose (20 points) on drive and kick options, the inside play of Chris Bosh (18 points), and the outside shooting of Morris Peterson (15 points) enroute to their healthy halftime lead, the Nets came out in a zone. Toronto, after shooting .629 in the first half, looked a little different.
“They were clueless,” Rodney Buford said.
Brian Scalabrine (16 points, eight rebounds) said, “The adjustments were huge. Vince got 39, and Jay almost hit a triple-double, but just bearing down defensively was the key to the victory.”
The back-and-forth fourth quarter saw the Nets finally grab control in the last 2 minutes, after the Raptors were within 92-90. Scalabrine and Carter earned six free-throw points, and Kidd delivered the dagger with a 3-pointer with 22.9 seconds to go.
“I was really looking forward to it,” Carter said of his return. “It helped me focus and do what I needed to do. Like I said, if I get caught up in that, we’re putting ourselves out of a playoff berth. That’s the big picture, in my opinion.”