NOT-SO-AVERAGE JOE: Joe Johnson whips a pass behind Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan in last night’s 113-106 Nets victory at Barclays Center.
It wasn’t pretty, but in the end it didn’t matter.
The Nets, despite having poor stretches offensively, getting outrebounded and not playing particularly good defense, did what good teams do against the Raptors last night: They found a way to win the game.
The result was a 113-106 victory, one that stretched the team’s season-high winning streak to seven games heading into tonight’s game in Atlanta.
“We gave up 106 points and every one of their percentage numbers is awesome, so we can say we didn’t defend very well,” Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said after the Nets improved to 9-1 since he took over. “But we found a way to win.”
The Nets (23-15) allowed the Raptors (14-24) to shoot 49 percent from the field, 54 percent from 3-point range and were outrebounded 41-34, including giving up 13 offensive rebounds.
But they were able to overcome all of that thanks in large part to getting balanced production from across the lineup, with five players finishing in double figures, as well as scoring 24 points off 14 Raptors turnovers while only committing six themselves.
“That was a big key for us tonight,” Deron Williams said. “We talked about it before the game. We needed to win the turnover battle, because they’re a low turnover team and the first two times we played against them we struggled in that area. We definitely did a better job of taking care of the ball tonight, and that translates.”
Once the Nets finally got going after sluggish starts offensively in both the first and second quarters, they got terrific performances from their big three of Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez.
Williams, in what has been a regular occurrence during the winning streak, was terrific, finishing with 19 points and seven assists. Johnson finished with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Brook Lopez had 22 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots to help the Nets past the Raptors, a team that entered the game with wins in 10 of its last 14.
“It was great,” said Lopez, who finished 6-for-12 shooting and a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line. “We were getting open looks which translates to easy shots.”
But it wasn’t just the stars who carried the day for the Nets, as the bench combined to produce 40 points, including a strong performance from Mirza Teletovic.
The backup power forward finished with 10 points, all in the second half of the second quarter to help the Nets regain the lead. Only seconds after he checked into the game for the first time, Teletovic drained a corner 3-pointer, his first of three 3-pointers during what turned into a 20-10 run to close out the half and give the Nets a 54-50 lead.
“That young man off the Brooklyn bench,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said, “he came in and opened the game up. We lost him in transition a couple of times, and he’s too great a shooter to have a miscommunication.”
Teletovic then did a little bit of everything when he re-entered the game in the second half, as he finished the night with four rebounds (including three offensive), three assists and a blocked shot.
“When I get into the game, I have to have a lot of energy and just help,” Teletovic said. “I need to help pick up the game.”