GAME 7 RECAP – FINAL: #Nets 104 – #Raptors 103

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Updated: May 4, 2014

The Brooklyn Nets defeated by the Toronto Raptors by a score of 104-103  in Toronto to take Game 7 and the series 4-3.

Rundown:

Paul Pierce started the game with a 3-pointer and he did the sane to end the quarter to help Brooklyn through the opening emotions of this Game 7.   Joe Johnson looked good early with six points and the Nets stayed in the game with balanced scoring but they gave up a horrible 20 points in the paint to luckily only be down 28-26 after one.  The Nets bench played very well (27 points) early with Marcus Thornton hitting three 3-pointers and scored 14 points along with Shaun Livingston’s eight points to help build a 61-53 at half.  Brooklyn scored 35 second quarter points and shot 55 percent at half.  Good half all around.  One bad sign is they allowed Amir Johnson to score 18 points and grab six rebounds.

The team with the lead at halftime has won every game in this series.

Pierce got his third foul early in the third and came out but Kidd continued to flow the entire offense through Johnson and it worked.  Johnson initiated everything through him for open threes and mismatches on the double teams.  The defense stayed strong and the Nets held the eight point lead at 81-73 going into fourth. The Nets continued to go to Johnson time and time again as they held a 10 point lead with just over three minutes to play.  The game seemed to take an hour from that point on as a ton of fouls were called and the Nets split free throws that allowed Toronto to get with a basket with under a minute to play.  The Nets blew another inbounds play which gave the Raptors the ball with under 10 seconds to play with a chance to win the game with a basket.  With 6.2 seconds left and the Nets leading 104-103 Kyle Lowry got the inbounds and beat Deron Williams and Kevin Garnett with the dribble in the lane only to see Pierce block him with the left hand after being sealed by Patrick Patterson.  Game over.

Nets win 104-103.

Pierce left the arena blowing kisses at the crowd as the Nets are taking their talents to South Beach for the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Nets record their 1st Game 7 victory in the franchise’s NBA history with today’s win.

Momentum Changers:

The Raptors made a run at the Nets starting the fourth but Joe Johnson would have none of it as the Nets continued to pound the ball into him and he scored nine straight points to push the lead back to double digits with 4:12 left.

NUMBERS:

In 6 career Game 7s entering today’s game, Kevin Garnett was averaging 11.3 rpg.  He had 11 rebounds today.

Andray Blatche is just the 3rd reserve in this year’s playoffs to post 2 games of 4+ offensive rebounds (DeJuan Blair, Taj Gibson).

Entering the 4th quarter of today’s game, the Nets & Raptors have each won 13 quarters in this series.

The Nets advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the 1st time since 2007. The Nets defeated the Raptors in the 1st round that year.

Toronto is 0-2 in Game 7s in franchise history. Both of those losses were 1-point losses to teams led by Billy King (’01 EC Semis vs. PHI)

Nets advance to the EC Semis for the 6th time in franchise history. The Nets are 14-13 all-time in EC Semis games and 2-3 in EC Semis series

Johnson (26) – Thornton (17)  – Williams (13)Garnett  (12) – Pierce (10) – Livingston (10)

 

Kidd’s Corner:

Jason Kidd on his team’s defense late:

“Team defense down the stretch, again, we might have bent a little bit but we didn’t break. That’s what veteran guys do.”

“We’ll enjoy this for a couple hours and then start preparing for Miami.”

Quotables

Kevin Garnett on Joe Johnson:

“Joe Jesus, I told you, cooler than the other side of the pillow.”

Andrei Kirilenko on Joe Johnson:

“He always comes through when you need him. This is a great teammate to have.”

Paul Pierce on key block:

“We knew we were gonna have to win this with our defense. … It was a clean block.”

 

NEXT UP: The Nets will be back in action Tuesday night when they play Game 1 in Miami against the Heat.  The game can be seen on TNT at 7pm.

 

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