NBA

Brooklyn proves wily — not frail — and Toronto just young

TORONTO — It was billed as something akin to the Senior Citizen All-Stars, clutching their walkers and Social Security checks, against the youthful Kiddie Korps, complete with all the necessary first-aid paraphernalia to fight friction burns.

But in the end, the old Nets were “experienced” and the young Raptors were, well, young.

“I thought we played a little bit as expected in our first playoff game,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.

And that would be sloppy, jittery and mistake-prone. Down the stretch, the Nets made key shots. Down the stretch, the Raptors committed an excruciating 24-second shot-clock turnover and missed more shots than they made. And when the final count was done, the Nets, who committed nine turnovers, were the 94-87 Game 1 first-round playoff victors Saturday in Toronto, and not the Raptors, who handed back the ball 19 times.

“That’s not us, 19 turnovers,” Raptor DeMar DeRozan said. “Every time we had a turnover, we put ourselves in a tough position to win. We understand that. Cut those in half, it’s a different ball game.”

And basically that’s what the Nets did, eight turnovers versus 19. The Raptors came away thinking they had punted this game, a home game, away.

“You could say that, especially with our home crowd. You could definitely say that we gave one away,” Raptors forward Amir Johnson said. “But it’s a long series.”

Kevin Garnett #2 of the Brooklyn Nets tries to hold up DeMar DeRozan #10 of the Toronto Raptors in Game One of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs on April 19, 2014.Getty Images

Could be a short one if the Raptors insist on self-destructing. Perhaps mistakes can be made against a team that might not be well-versed in taking advantage. But Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson, Deron Williams and the rest of the Nets gang are like a group of sharks smelling blood.

“I threw the ball away a few times,” said point guard Kyle Lowry, the Raptors’ igniter. “Yes, 19 is too many but it’s something we can fix, it’s not something they did. So we’ll fix that when we’re coming back.”

One of the local papers here, the Toronto Sun, had a headline proclaiming, “Raptors vs. Dinosaurs.” But for the first game, the dinosaurs behaved like T-Rex types. And while the Raptors made runs here and there and never really went away, the jitters were on display early. There was foul trouble for example. Terrence Ross, owner of a 51-point game this season, made a cameo and took a seat with fouls.

“We got in some ticky-tack foul trouble in the first half and I thought that took us out,” Casey said. “The series is not won in one game. There’s a lot of basketball to be played.

“We got the kinks out of the playoff atmosphere, the playoff game, all that stuff is to the side, Now we have to go back and clean up the 19 turnovers.”

They’ve just got to make sure they do it before their bedtimes.