Raptors hand Nets 8th straight home loss with 91-74 victory

Magic 83, Nets 77 – Victor Oladipo and Nikola Vucevic each scored 20 points as Orlando sent Brooklyn to its ninth straight home loss.

“His right knee is swollen a little bit more than usual”, Casey said.

“Defensively we gave up too many easy baskets off bad shots and turnovers”, said Larkin. I think this time around they just have the confidence and the understanding that they are a good team, so for me it’s really not a surprise.

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Jonas Valanciunas had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and the Raptors handed the Brooklyn Nets their eighth straight home loss, 91-74 on Wednesday night. It has been one of their hardest tasks this year, but even in their upsets, they have come very close to victory. “We weren’t trying to lose three in a row”. He made his first six shots, finished 8-for-13 and recorded his seventh double-double while playing 30 minutes.

Guard John Wall scored 21 points for the Wizards but had seven turnovers and only four assists. Lowry missed all seven of his 3-point attempts but was 7-for-7 from inside the arc.

Until last season, DeRozan was viewed as a role player and supporting act for Kyle Lowry. Amid the success of the National Basketball Association team, fans of the Toronto Raptors see three men responsible for their remarkable run this season: Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Cory Joseph.

“There’s a lot of stuff we have to tweak”, Brooklyn forward Thaddeus Young said. “We just weren’t making shots tonight”.

DeRozan again obliterated the Wizards defense with 35 points in Toronto’s 97-88 victory. “We don’t make hustle plays”, Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. “It was just overall domination”. After a solid third quarter, the fourth quarter was a real grind-em-out affair as Matt & Jack discussed their travel plans to DC.

DeMar DeRozan is expected to decline his player option for next season. Despite trailing for nearly the entire game, the Nets took a lead in the second quarter, got within two points in the third, but weren’t able to capitalize as the Raptors outscored them 46-38 in the second half. While the Wizards are getting healthier, the Raptors are getting hit by the injury bug, having recently loss their big off-season acquisition, DeMarre Carroll, for an extended period after he had a surgical procedure on his knee.

While there are some questions as to what the future holds for the Lubumbashi native, who will become a free-agent in the offseason, Casey admits he would love to keep Biyombo, but it is up to the Raptors front office to have a final say. He described the scenario as an “unfortunate opportunity”.

So in the previous 15 games, spanning two seasons and a postseason, the Nets and Raptors had each scored exactly 1,504 points. Toronto was the last Eastern Conference team that Brooklyn faced.