Nets 97, Raptors 83: Deron Williams broke out for 23 points and host Brooklyn held on to force a decisive Game 7 of its Eastern Conference first-round clash with Toronto.

Joe Johnson scored 17 points, Kevin Garnett had 13 and Paul Pierce added 12 for the Nets, who visit the Raptors for the series finale on Sunday. Alan Anderson was given the starting nod in place of Shaun Livingston and responded with nine points and a team-high nine rebounds as Brooklyn built a 26-point lead and survived a second-half swoon in a wire-to-wire win.

DeMar DeRozan paced the Raptors with 28 points while adding six rebounds and a pair of steals. Kyle Lowry was the only other Toronto player in double figures with 11 points on 4-of-16 shooting, part of a 38.5 percent effort from the floor for the Raptors.

Pierce scored seven straight Brooklyn points to help the hosts build a 30-16 lead late in the first quarter and the Nets produced a 60-41 halftime advantage despite 18 points from DeRozan, who went 6-of-10 from the field while his teammates were 8-of-28. Shortly after Williams appeared to hurt his troublesome left ankle early in the third, he hit a big 3-pointer during a 11-2 surge - capped by Pierce's 3-pointer - to help increase the margin to 71-45.

Toronto went the first 4:35 of the second half without a field goal but then made a charge, pulling to within 73-57 on back-to-back dunks by Jonas Valanciunas and as close as 86-76 on Lowry's 3-pointer with 5:02 remaining in the game. Garnett responded with a basket and Williams added a triple to open up a comfortable 13-point margin with just over a minute left.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Livingston scored six points in 10 minutes after averaging 27.8 minutes through the first five games of the series. ... Nets C Andray Blatche had eight points and seven rebounds off the bench. ... Valanciunas collected nine points and a team-high nine boards for Toronto.