Undermanned Nets find a way to hold off Raptors

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It was a trip to Brooklyn like never before with COVID flexing its muscles and the NBA schedule teetering in the balance.

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The Nets actually had to wait to see if Kevin Durant’s ankle would allow him to play just to reach the minimum eight players needed for a game to take place.

That was after a day that began with four Nets, including starters LaMarcus Aldridge and D’Andre Bembry being added to the Nets already in the league’s health and safety protocols. About an hour before tipoff another starter, James Harden, and a potential starter in Bruce Brown were also added to that growing health and safety list. With injuries that left them down to just the eight healthy bodies.

When the game finally did begin, it was with that bare minimum eight, the only remaining starters still healthy were Kevin Durant and Patty Mills, a rather recent addition to the Nets starting five and only because of injuries.

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Head coach Nick Nurse wasn’t fooled one bit that this would be any less a battle than any other night in the NBA regardless of the number of bodies the Nets had.

Nurse correctly pointed out that any team that had Durant in the lineup along with Mills and James Harden, who at the time was still playing, were still a headache for which to game plan.

Harden, as mentioned, didn’t make the tipoff but Durant and Mills were there and that was enough on this night to get the job done as they overcame a tough third quarter with a blowout fourth of their own in a 131-129 win in overtime. Full credit, not just to Durant, for his scoring but also his playmaking as he willingly gave up the ball through much of the fourth quarter with the Raptors blitzing him with multiple defenders to little-known Nets like rookie  Kessler Edwards who had 15 in just the third NBA game of his young career.

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But down the stretch of the fourth and into overtime it was a heavy dose of Durant and Mills that brought this one home for the Eastern Conference leaders. Durant would finish with 34 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season. Mills would finish with 29 points.

The Raptors went on a 9-3 run over the final three minutes of regulation just to force overtime.

It was a 9-0 run until Mills freed himself with a slight side step and then let fly with his seventh three-pointer of the night to tie the game at 120.

The Raptors had a chance to win at the buzzer but VanVleet’s mid-range attempt missed the mark badly, forcing the extra five minutes.

Barnes spent much of the night on Durant and more than held his own against the NBA’s scoring leader, but in the overtime, it was classic Durant as he single-handedly took this one home.

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Toronto had one final chance in this back-and-forth game as Barnes rebounded a Mills miss on his second free throw and got three-quarters of the way down the court before he just missed banking in his desperation heave.

Fred VanVleet, who else, led the Raptors with 28 points. Two of his fellow starters — Trent Jr, and Siakam had 25 each while Barnes checked in with 23.

The Raptors owned a nine-point lead after three quarters scoring 44 in the frame as the Raptors started to get angry.

It began with Trent Jr. to end the half as he hit a buzzer-beater three in the face of Kessler Edwards and then let the young veteran of all of two games before Tuesday night know he was getting a little too lippy.

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Early in the third, it was Chris Boucher blocking another seldom-used Net in Day’Ron Sharpe who had earlier been doing some damage inside. Not content with the block, Boucher followed Sharpe up the court getting right in his face to make sure the Nets youngster saw the celebration.

It cost Boucher and the Raptors a technical, but it seemed to charge up all of the visitors, who went on to score 44 in the frame and take their first semblance of control of the game.

The Nets came right back in the fourth eliminating the Raptors’ nine-point lead in the first 51/2 minutes of the quarter taking a one-point lead on Mills’ rainbow three.