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 — to advance to the next round.
Though Vaughn got his wish with a 115-103 win, the Nets were eliminated from the tournament on point differential.
“It was a good win,” Vaughn said after his team won for the third straight time and improved to 9-8, as Toronto fell to 8-10.
The Nets continued to add to their lead late, hoping it would be enough to sneak into the quarters, but Boston’s lopsided 124-97 win over the Bulls made it impossible for the Nets to outdo the Celtics.
Nic Claxton blocks Dennis Schroder’s shot in the first half of the Nets’ 115-103 win over the Raptors. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST“We kind of were paying attention to it [and] we didn’t know exactly, but we figured we might as well score as many points as we can,” Royce O’Neale said.
They did their best, turning a 97-96 lead into a 115-100 advantage.
“I feel if it wasn’t for the [tournament] we wouldn’t have tried to score when we were up 12 with 20 seconds left,’’ Mikal Bridges said. “To get to [Las] Vegas [for the semifinals], the intensity was up.”
Players wanted to get to Las Vegas — and wanted to have a chance to win $500,000 each if they won the tournament.
To take control of the game, the Nets needed some uncharacteristic 3-point shooting from O’Neale, as they scored 15 straight points late.
Spencer Dinwiddie runs up the court during the Nets’ win over the Raptors on Tuesday. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST“We ended up making the right plays at the end,” Vaughn said.
In the end, Vaughn said he would use the tournament to his advantage.
He said he asked his staff where the Nets stood up by eight points during a Raptors’ timeout and he was pleased with how his team responded.
“I think guys were engaged in the game,” Vaughn said. “It was great for fans on a Tuesday night. … Our guys played to the end. I can use that as a coach.”
The Nets went up by as many as seven points in the third quarter, 61-54, but struggled from the floor, as Toronto continued to come back and the game was tied early in the fourth quarter.
Lonnie Walker IV shoots over Chris Boucher during the first half of the Nets’ victory. Corey Sipkin for the NY POSTToronto took the lead midway through the fourth quarter 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.
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.
That stretch, coupled with their late fourth-quarter run, 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.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored a game-high 23 points despite 5 of 18 shooting and Bridges added 22 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
O’Neale finished with 18 points, all coming on 3-pointers.
“He was there at the right time and made timely shots,” Vaughn said.
And the Nets were also strong inside, outscoring Toronto 50-34 in the paint, with Nic Claxton providing 15 points, eight boards and four blocked shots.
