TORONTO — Different coach. Same result.
In Kevin Ollie’s debut as interim coach, the Nets trailed nearly wire-to-wire in a 121-93 loss to the Raptors on Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena.
It was far more competitive than their 50-point embarrassment in Boston that ended the nominal first half of the season — and head coach Jacque Vaughn’s tenure.
But they still came out of the All-Star break with another defeat, their 24th in the last 32 games.
Brooklyn fell to 21-34 and now trails the idle Hawks by three full games for the final Eastern Conference play-in spot with just 27 left in the schedule.
“[My message was] just play with joy. Coming off the All-Star break, having fun, being grateful to get back out here and compete,” Ollie said beforehand.
“We’ve got 28 games to continue to strive to what we want to be at at the end of the season, and that’s a complete team playing their best basketball and getting into the playoffs.”