Here are three thoughts on the Nets’ 100-95 loss to the Raptors in Game 2 of their best-of-7 first round series in Toronto, which evened the series at a game apiece:
1. Before this series began, I wrote in my matchup analysis that if Deron Williams could play Kyle Lowry to at least a draw, the Nets would win the series. He did so in the Nets’ Game 1 win, finishing with 24 points and having his most aggressive game possibly of the entire season. But he didn’t in the Game 2 loss, scoring 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting while Lowry had 14, nine rebounds and six assists.
When Williams is aggressive, as he was in Game 1, the Nets are a totally different team, and that aggressiveness can make Lowry — the Raptors’ most important player — work at the other end and help cancel out his contributions.
As the Nets return home for Games 3 and 4, focus on whether or not Williams regains the form he showed in Game 1.
2. Joe Johnson and DeMar DeRozan mostly have battled to a standstill in this series, but Johnson who seems to have the more sustainable path to success.
Johnson has been able to get into the lane at will, against whomever the Raptors throw at him. Using his massive size advantage on the wings, Johnson has repeatedly gotten easy baskets, going a combined 12-for-19 on shots in and around the paint through two games.
DeRozan recovered from a dreadful opening game of the series to score 30 points on 9-for-21 shooting (and 12-for-14 from the foul line), but the Nets will be happy with how he collected them. DeRozan made a bunch of very low-percentage shots – including the two jumpers that gave Toronto a four-point lead in the final few minutes – that aren’t likely to be repeated.
The Nets will gladly take their chances with DeRozan taking contested, long two-point jump shots, the most inefficient shots in basketball, and said so after Tuesday’s loss. If the series hinges on whether or not those shots fall for DeRozan, the Nets should feel good about their chances.
3. In the battle of the first guards off the bench, Toronto’s Greivis Vasquez and Brooklyn’s Marcus Thornton, the Raptors have enjoyed a massive advantage.
Vasquez is one of the more enjoyable players in the league to watch when he’s going, and he’s certainly been going through the first two games. After putting up 18 points and eight assists with just one turnover in Game 1, Vasquez came back with 11 points, eight assists and two turnovers in Game 2. Thornton, on the other hand, has been dreadful in his first playoff series, going 0-for-4 and finishing with one point in 12 minutes in Game 1 and then missing a pair of shots in just five minutes in Game 2.
Thornton has won a few games for the Nets since being acquired midseason from Sacramento, and could easily get back on track. But so far, Toronto’s sparkplug off the bench has provided a much bigger impact than Brooklyn’s.