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The final score of Monday’s first game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors does not tell the story of the game from a distance. Yes, the dash looks like a blowout at 134-110, but the context here is critical. Toronto took a seemingly insurmountable 33-point lead in the second quarter. Many teams would have folded from there. the Nets did not. They fought back and reduced the lead to just eight in the third quarter. Despite their status as an underdog in both the game and the series, Brooklyn continued to fight.
This will be the tone of this series. Toronto has a definite talent advantage, but the Nets won’t fall without a fight. Even if they don’t get 15 assists from Caris LeVert every night, it will be a more competitive series than the score suggests. But what if Fred VanVleet shoots 8 out of 10 out of 3 points again? The Raptors will always walk away from this series with a relatively quick win. Here are three takeaways from today’s Raptors victory.
1. Return to the Brooklyn Defense Drawing Board
Brooklyn’s defense is designed to prevent edge fire. They allow the second fewest attempts within three feet of the basket throughout the NBA, but that means sacrificing on the perimeter. Nets sag from shooters, go under screens, and usually sell to protect the basket. It serves the Raptors very well. Anyone in their rotation can shoot, and on Mondays, basically everyone in their rotation fact shoot. Eight different Raptors hit a 3-point pointer in Game 1, and the team made 22 overall on the 134-point path.
Brooklyn will have to make schematic adjustments for the rest of this series, but Toronto’s potential game with Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals is looming. Brooklyn’s defense is a lesser version of Milwaukee’s. Only the Bucks allow less shots over the edge and both go to extreme lengths to protect the basket. If the Toronto attack works this well against the Nets, will it thrive the same against the Bucks? That’s a question for another day. For now, we know the Raptors are in good shape against Brooklyn offensively.
2. Point Caris?
Caris LeVert was forced to play point due to injuries to Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie, but his goal, rightly, was to score. He’s the only current Net capable of reaching the basket, so his 25 points per game in the bubble was a better use of his talents than playing a more traditional point guard role. But Toronto has one of the best defenses in basketball and used it to limit LeVert as a goalscorer. So, on an inefficient night of filming, he adjusted. LeVert finished the game with 15 assists.
This is one of the last levels that a player must reach before achieving Superstar status. The best players in the league know how to influence games when their shots don’t fall. LeVert did it in this game. No matter what happens in this series, the Nets will be able to hold their heads high knowing what a valuable experience it has been for one of their best young players.
3. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot may never miss another shot again
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot started this season on a two-way contract. Now he is one of the stars of the bubble. In eight classification games, Luwawu-Cabarrot has managed 45% of his 6.4 attempts at 3 points per game. It wasn’t long-lasting from a distance due to his pre-Disney career, so naturally he came out in Game 1 and hit six of his nine 3-pointers.
Brooklyn’s priority this season both in and out of the bubble has been preparing for next season when Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving give them a real chance to fight for the championship. Every player on their roster is auditioning for a role in this contender, and Luwawu-Cabarrot makes a very convincing case for himself. Star-led teams always need shooters to take advantage of the space created by these big names.
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