As much of the rest of the league had its eyes locked onto the In-Season Tournament that heads into the quarterfinals next week, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn kept his attention on a more traditional result: a victory on Tuesday night.
Facing the Raptors at Barclays Center, the Nets needed a lopsided win over Toronto, as well as some help from some other teams — including the Celtics.
And while Vaughn got his wish with a 115-103 win over the Raptors, the Nets were eliminated from the tournament on point differential.
“I try not to complicate things,” Vaughn said before the game. “I’m thinking about getting a win [Tuesday]. That’s my main focus and message to the group. All the other ramifications that can come from it, I guess I’ll deal with it if it presents itself at some point in the game. I’d like to have one in the win column at the end of the night.”
He got it, as the Nets picked up their second three-game winning streak of the season and improved to 9-8, as Toronto fell to 8-10.
And the narrow win was hardly a given.
They needed some uncharacteristic 3-point shooting from Royce O’Neale in the fourth quarter to seal the win, as the Nets scored 15 straight points late in the game.
The Nets went up by as many as seven points in the third quarter, with a 61-54 advantage, but struggled from the floor, as Toronto continued to come back and the game was tied early in the fourth quarter.
Toronto took the lead midway through the fourth on a Chris Boucher 3-pointer.
But O’Neale answered with a 3-pointer to put the Nets ahead again.
O’Neale added two more 3-pointers before the Raptors rallied to tie it again.
Mikal Bridges gave the Nets the lead with a traditional 3-pointer to make it 97-94.
Cam Johnson said prior to the game, “Winning the game is obviously priority No. 1.”
But he said the team was well aware of the tournament and the desire to stay alive for the title next month, which would result in a $500,000 prize for each player on the championship-winning team.
“I wouldn’t say you’re going into the game worried about a point differential,” Johnson said. “We’re gonna play basketball the way we play basketball. If you end up winning the game by five [points], that means you end up winning the game by five. But I think there’s a respect for the game component where you’re not gonna go in there and mess with it. You’re not gonna go in there and tinker with point differentials. But it [doesn’t] mean anything if you go out there and lose.”
After the Nets fell behind by seven points midway through the second quarter, they finished the half with a 15-0 run to go up 52-44.
It was a stark contrast to an issue that has hurt the Nets at times this season, when they’ve repeatedly been on the wrong end of torrid runs by their opponents to close out quarters.
But on Tuesday, the hot stretch was started by Spencer Dinwiddie with a short jumper. Dinwiddie went on to close out the run with back-to-back 3-pointers after feeding Nic Claxton for a dunk.
He finished the half with a team-high 13 points, while Bridges had 12.
And the Nets, after hitting just two of their first 13 3-point attempts, made their last three of the half.
They were also strong inside, outscoring Toronto 32-20 in the paint, with the 32 points a season-high for the Nets in a half.
Claxton led the way inside with eight points, six rebounds and three blocked shots before halftime.