The Nets are rolling — and the Raptors weren’t even a speed bump Friday night.
They dominated the Raptors before a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center, in an authoritative 114-105 beating on both ends of the court that was far more lopsided than the final score might suggest.
It was the Nets’ fourth straight victory, and their sixth in a row at home.
“I think the first part is we’ve tried to take advantage of the guys just being at home, sleeping in your own bed and resting,” coach Jacque Vaughn, who is 11-6 since replacing Steve Nash, and 9-4 since having the interim tag removed, said before the game. “So that’s how we manage our days off, and I think that’s really helped us, so that piece of it.
“And then I think there’s a comfort of playing at home. The first thing we said was we weren’t going to take that for granted, and try to use it as an advantage, being at home. But each game, to be able to walk into that game and give your best, give what you got. We’re trying to win every single game that we lace up, and that doesn’t change whether you’re home or on the road.”
The Nets (13-11), which had been mired in 13th place in the Eastern Conference as recently as Nov. 3, have stormed up the standings. They leapfrogged Toronto (11-11) and were just one-half game behind the Pacer’s for fourth place, pending Indiana’s game at Utah later Friday night.
It was a comprehensive win.
Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 27 points and Joe Harris, shaking out of his malaise, tied his season high with 17 points and shot a season-best 5-for-7 from 3-point range. The Nets barely needed Kevin Durant, who had a quiet scoring night with 17 points.
Their defense led the way, sparking a 15-0 first-quarter blitz that turned a nine-point lead into a 22-point cushion. The Nets led by as many as 36.
It was a perfect environment for T.J. Warren to make his Nets debut and return to the NBA. In his first appearance since Dec. 29, 2020 — a span of 703 days — he had 10 points off the bench on 5-for-9 shooting to lead all Nets reserves in scoring.
The ball was popping and swinging from side to side as the Nets produced 27 assists and .537 shooting, with all five starters in double-figures. And the worst rebounding team in the league actually boxed out and held their own on the glass against the Raptors.
It proved to be more than enough.
The Nets were clinging to a 17-10 lead after Toronto forward Pascal Siakam, who finished with a team-high 24 points, hit a free throw with 8:01 left in the first quarter. That’s when the Nets blew it open with a five-minute blitz.
They reeled off 15 unanswered points. The Nets shot 6-for-7 from the floor. The run fittingly was capped by Warren, when his pump fake and 14-foot baseline pull-up put them ahead 32-10.
The defense during that run was withering, forcing seven straight Raptors misses and a couple of turnovers for good measure. By the time Toronto’s Thad Young finally broke the drought with a driving hook shot with 3:10 left in the quarter, all the momentum belonged to the Nets.
They 41-17 lead after the first quarter, the Nets’ highest-scoring quarter of the season and their biggest differential in any opening period since March 8, 2013.
The cushioned swelled to 36, and it was again Warren that made the play. His put-back pushed the lead to 67-31 with 5:25 left in the first half. The Nets spent the second half holding Toronto at arm’s length.
The Nets lead the Raptors 93-72 through three quarters — their second-biggest entering the fourth all season — and cruised from there.
A late 9-0 Toronto run got the Raptors to within seven points in the final minute.
