Here are three thoughts on the Nets’ 94-87 win over the Raptors in Game 1 of their best-of-7 first round playoff series Saturday afternoon:
1. The Raptors have to be sitting at home thinking to themselves, “We let this one slip away.”
The Nets shot 42.5 percent from the field – including 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range – on the day, while the Raptors got a monster performance (17 points, 18 rebounds and two blocked shots) from young center Jonas Valanciunas, a typically excellent one from Kyle Lowry (22 points, seven rebounds, eight assists) and good ones off the bench from Patrick Patterson (nine points and five rebounds) and Greivis Vasquez (18 points and eight rebounds).
But Toronto gave the game away by committing 19 turnovers that led to 17 Nets points, and by receiving dreadful games from wings DeMar DeRozan (14 points on 3-for-13 shooting) and Terrence Ross (three points and four fouls in 16 minutes).
The biggest problem for the Raptors now is that they have to sit around for about 76 hours and think about how they let a game slip that they absolutely should have won – which is just about the worst possible thing that could happen to a young team with no playoff experience.
After the game, the Nets were saying in the locker room, “Let’s get greedy. Let’s get this next one.” They sense the opportunity to potentially put this series away early. Now it’s up to them to go out and actually do it.
2. Another reason the Raptors have to be kicking themselves right now is because of how truly dreadful the Nets’ bench play was Saturday.
The five bench players who saw action – Mason Plumlee, Andray Blatche, Alan Anderson, Mirza Teletovic and Marcus Thornton – went a combined 7-for-23 from the field, including a staggering 0-for-12 from 3-point range. Plumlee played well in his limited minutes, but only played 11:45 because he picked up five fouls. Alan Anderson struggled from behind the 3-point arc, but also did a nice job of getting to the rim for a few layups and chipped in defensively as part of the effort to slow down DeRozan and Ross.
But Teletovic and Thornton were dreadful, going a combined 1-for-10, and Nets coach Jason Kidd oddly opted not to play Andrei Kirilenko, his best player on the bench, at any point. The struggles of Teletovic (-13), Thornton (-14) and Blatche (-16) was backed up by plus-minus, while Anderson was -1 and everyone else had a positive plus-minus.
Bench players are usually the most susceptible to being impacted by a raucous opposing crowd like the one the Nets faced Saturday in Toronto, and of those four players, only Blatche had played meaningful playoff minutes previously. But it’s hard to believe the Nets will get this little production from their bench again this series – yet another bad sign for the Raptors.
3. It’s clear that Kidd is going to ride Deron Williams and Joe Johnson until the Nets are out of the playoffs.
Williams and Johnson were the only two players on the Nets to finish with over 30 minutes per game this season, and finished with 38:48 and 44:30 in Game 1, respectively. Both also were excellent, scoring 24 points and outplaying their counterparts on the Raptors.
Other than Paul Pierce, who finished with 35:32 and probably would have played even less if Teletovic hadn’t been so dreadful shooting the ball, no one else on the Nets finished with over 30 minutes played.
But if Williams can match Lowry, the Nets are almost definitely going to win the series, and the Raptors have no one who can guard Johnson, and the Nets took advantage of that as many times as possible Saturday. Expect that to continue as the series moves along.