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Brooklyn Nets Highlights: Nets Trio Leads Team To Victory Over Toronto Raptors

By Kenneth Teape

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Final. 114. 147. 109. 81

Brooklyn Nets Highlights: Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young Combine Huge Scoring Night Leads To Win Over Toronto Raptors

The Brooklyn Nets were able to keep up their strong play Friday night, defeating the Atlantic Division leading Toronto Raptors. The Nets are playing their best basketball at the right time, as they are beginning to put a stranglehold on a playoff spot. They even have an outside chance at moving up to the sixth seed, as the Milwaukee Bucks have been playing as poorly as the Nets have been playing well recently. With the victory Friday coupled with a Boston Celtics loss, the Nets are now 1.5 games ahead of ninth place.

The Nets have three players to thank for the victory tonight, as this trio combined for 90 of their 114 points on the night. Leading the way was Deron Williams, who turned the clock back tonight on the Raptors. Williams scored 31 points, the first team he reached the 30-point plateau since February 23, 2014 and the most he has scored since April 2013. Williams was able to pick the Raptors apart in an array of ways, as he shot 11-18 from the field, including 5-7 from deep and all four of his free throws.

Williams was actually the only Net tonight to connect from deep, as the rest of his teammates combined to miss all nine of their attempts. In the process, Williams also facilitated the offense well. He handed out 11 assists, while the rest of his teammates managed only 10 combined. Williams had a hand in almost half of the Nets scoring against the Raptors.

While Williams was dominating the perimeter for the Nets, the duo of Thaddeus Young and Brook Lopez was doing much of the same inside. Young, playing his third game back from a knee injury, looked to be back in form. He scored a season-high tying 29 points, going 12-15 overall, but 12-13 inside the three-point line. He also grabbed six rebounds and had four steals. Young struggled from the foul line though, as his 5-9 performance there kept him from hitting 30 points like Williams and Lopez.

Lopez continued his dominance, as the Raptors just had no answer for him inside. He was unstoppable in the paint, scoring 30 points on 13-24 from the field with 17 rebounds. He also had two assists, one steal and one block.

Raptors’ center Jonas Valanciunas did his best to keep up with Lopez, scoring 21 points with nine rebounds but he was just no match for Lopez. With the zone Lopez is in, and his health being solid right now, there aren’t many players that will be able to slow down the Nets’ big man.

The Nets are lucky that they received such huge games from Williams, Young and Lopez, because the Raptors had some hot shots of their own Friday night. Along with Valanciunas’ 21, DeMar DeRozan added a team-high 27 alongside him.

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Off the bench, Lou Williams outscored the Nets’ bench alone two-fold, scoring 23 points compared to the 11 that the Nets’ bench was able to muster.

While this is an impressive win for the Nets, they will need a better team effort going forward if they are to continue their playoff push and have any success in the postseason. It is good that they have built a 1.5 game lead, because things are about to get difficult.

They will be traveling to face the Atlanta Hawks tonight to finish up their back-to-back set. That is just the first of six consecutive games that the Nets will be playing against a playoff team. If they are to qualify, they will have definitely earned it.

Next: Are the Nets closer to a title than the Knicks?

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