Norman Powell scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, Fred VanVleet had 24 points and 10 assists and the Toronto Raptors rallied to defeat the Brooklyn Nets 104-99 Wednesday afternoon near Orlando to grab a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.
The Raptors, who raced to a 33-point first-half lead in Monday's win, fell behind by 14 in the first quarter of Game 2 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference clash.
The Nets still led by six entering the fourth quarter, but the defending NBA champion Raptors opened the period with a 19-5 run to lead 93-85 with 6:21 remaining.
Jarrett Allen's dunk cut Toronto's edge to 95-92 with 4:43 left. The lead climbed back to seven on two free throws by Kyle Lowry with 3:41 left.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot's 3-pointer with 39.8 seconds remaining pulled the nets within 102-99. Toronto was called for a 24-second violation to give Brooklyn the ball with 15 seconds left, but Powell took advantage of a Nets turnover and made the clinching dunk with 5.6 seconds left.
Lowry had 21 points for Toronto and Pascal Siakam added 19.
Garrett Temple had 21 points for the Nets, Luwawu-Cabarrot added 17 points and Caris LeVert tallied 16 points and 11 assists. Allen and Joe Harris had 14 points and 15 rebounds each and Tyler Johnson scored 12 points.
The Nets led 33-29 after the first quarter.
The Raptors tied the game in the first minute of the second quarter only to have the Nets open a five-point lead.
Toronto came back to lead by one point when Lowry converted a technical foul with 3:13 to play in the first half.
The Nets took a halftime lead of 53-50 after Luwawu-Cabarrot made a layup with 4.3 seconds left.
Lowry tied the game with a 3-pointer on the first shot of the second half.
The stubborn Nets answered with a 10-0 run. VanVleet then reeled off Toronto's next 10 points to cut the lead to two before the Nets pulled out to an 80-74 advantage after three quarters.
--Field Level Media
Brooklyn | Toronto | |
Garrett Temple 21 | Scoring | Norman Powell 24 |
Caris LeVert 11 | Assists | Fred VanVleet 10 |
Jarrett Allen 15 | Rebounds | Kyle Lowry 9 |
Caris LeVert 6 | Free Throws Made | Pascal Siakam 5 |
Joe Harris 1 | Steals | OG Anunoby 2 |
Jarrett Allen 3 | Blocks | OG Anunoby 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Brooklyn | 99 | 38.8 | 14-41 | 19-27 | 25 | 46 | 6 | 3 | 17 |
Toronto | 104 | 43.7 | 9-35 | 19-28 | 22 | 44 | 6 | 7 | 9 |