NBA Game Summary - Brooklyn at Toronto
Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Jarrett Jack scored 24 points and Alan Anderson added 22 to lead the resurgent Brooklyn Nets to a 109-93 victory over the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre.
The Nets built off Monday's 102-100 win over the Los Angeles Clippers by pulling away in the fourth quarter to avenge a 127-122 home overtime loss to the Raptors just five days ago.
Jack racked up a career-best 35 points in defeat that night, and hit 9-of-13 shots while dishing out six assists to spark a strong offensive effort from Brooklyn in the rematch.
Joe Johnson contributed 12 points and seven assists to the triumph, while Bojan Bogdanovic hit a trio of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and ended with 11 points.
The winning streak is the Nets' first since ripping off three straight from Dec. 29-Jan. 2.
"It's very humbling to see your team to start to get it," Nets head coach Lionel Hollins said afterward. "You fight them, you're yelling, you're coaxing them, you're hugging them and you are doing all kinds of stuff and all of a sudden a light comes on and they start playing for each other, and believing in each other. It showed in the way we (have) played for the last couple of weeks."
Terrence Ross tallied 23 points off the bench to pace Toronto. Kyle Lowry had 13 points and 10 assists in the loss, the fourth in the Atlantic Division- leading Raptors' past six outings at home.
"We know where we want to be and where we can be, and when we lose games like this it's always difficult to swallow," Lowry said.
Jack and Anderson each played prominent roles in a 16-4 third-quarter run that put the Nets ahead to stay. Jack accounted for six points and three assists during the surge, with Anderson knocking down a key triple and capping the stretch with a long two that gave Brooklyn a 69-59 advantage with under three minutes left in the period.
Ross and DeMar DeRozan then led the Raptors on a 10-3 flurry and Toronto trailed just 76-72 entering the fourth quarter, but the Nets controlled the final frame to squash any comeback hopes.
Anderson dropped in five straight points and Bogdanovic knocked down a trey to finish off an 11-4 sequence to begin a fourth quarter in which the Raptors went just 6-of-22 from the field -- including 1-of-10 from 3-point range -- and were outscored by a 33-21 margin.
Brooklyn continued to increase the differential down the stretch, with Bogdanovic draining 3-pointers on consecutive possessions for a commanding 101-82 lead with five minutes to go.
"You never know when all those hours of practice or film sessions, when they're really going to come together and materialize and you're going to hit that stride as to where you're going to start just bringing consistent, positive basketball," said Jack. "Hopefully, this is the stride for us."
The Raptors shot 60 percent in the first quarter to open up a 28-22 lead at period's end, but six straight points by rookie Cory Jefferson early in the second had Brooklyn owning a slim 32-31 edge.
Toronto countered with an 8-0 spurt capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Lou Williams and Greivis Vasquez, though the Nets again had an answer prior to the close of the half. Mason Plumlee's alley-oop dunk off a Deron Williams feed finished off a 9-2 stretch that had Brooklyn up 47-46 with under a minute left in the second quarter.
The Raptors rallied to claim a 51-49 lead at the break on DeRozan's layup with 12.9 seconds left.