In their first playoff game with a new coach and two veterans with decades of playoff experience, the Brooklyn Nets showed the toughness and mettle the franchise lacked in last year’s failed playoff run.

Jason Kidd got his first playoff win as the wily Nets survived everything the Toronto Raptors threw at them in a 94-87 Game 1 win at Air Canada Centre on Saturday.

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Afterward, Coach Kidd was asked about the various distractions and expressed pride in his team’s ability to stay above the fray and focus on the game.

“We have a job to do and that’s to play the game of basketball,” he said. “It’s about basketball and at the end of the day, that’s what we’re about. It’s about trying to find a way to win on the road, and we did that this afternoon. But it doesn’t stop there.”

The Nets got off to a hot start in the first, behind the play of point guard Deron Williams, who led a 12-2 run late in the quarter to help the Nets gain a 29-21 advantage at the end of the opening frame. Williams finished the quarter with 11 points and helped force six turnovers from Toronto. Afterward, Coach Kidd lauded his point guard for setting the tone for Brooklyn.

“He was great, “ Jason said of Williams. “He came out with high energy. He was looking to be aggressive and scoring the ball. He set the tone early on and he got the guys off to a good start.”

The second quarter was a defensive battle, as neither squad shot over 40 percent from the field. With an eight point lead in hand, J-Kidd gave his starters some well-deserved rest to start the second frame. However, when Brooklyn’s bench let the Raptors tie up the game less than four minutes into the second quarter, Coach Kidd made no reservations about re-inserting his starters.

On his very first play after being subbed back into the game, Williams once again showcased the aggressiveness that was his calling card for the day when he drove to the basket for a teardrop floater, sinking the shot and drawing contact for the foul. He converted his second three-point play opportunity of the afternoon at the free throw line to put Brooklyn back on top 38-35.

Brooklyn Nets v Toronto Raptors

Toronto fought back to tie the game midway through the second, but Brooklyn weathered the storm. Former Raptor Alan Anderson put the Nets back out in front with a 17-foot jumper, got a steal on the next Raptors possession, and made an easy layup on the fast break to put the Nets up by four. The turnover was one of five that Brooklyn coaxed out of the young Raptors squad in the second quarter.

At halftime, the turnover margin was 11-3 in favor of the visitors, who also shot a better percentage and connected on seven more shots than Toronto. The Nets also shut down Toronto’s leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, holding him to just four points in the first half. However, despite all that success, they led by just four, 50-46, at halftime.

The Raptors came out of the break as the aggressors and took a 51-50 lead when Terrence Ross buried a trey.

However, Coach Kidd’s squad never lost its cool in front of the capacity crowd, instead following the calm demeanor of their coach. Garnett forced his way to the line to tie up the score and on the ensuing Raptors possession, the Nets forced a turnover and Johnson knocked down a 19-footer to take the lead back.

“This is a great atmosphere,” Kidd said. “They really support the Raptors and you could see that this afternoon with the sell out and the way they were supporting the team. I’ve been here as a player, so I have an understanding of what as a team we were going to be in for and I thought the guys handled it quite well throughout.”

Shortly after giving the Nets the lead, Johnson hit another jumper to put Brooklyn on top 57-53, but midway through the third, the Air Canada Centre experienced a power surge, which caused a malfunction in the shot clocks. A 10-minute delay ensued, during which backup clocks were wheeled in. However those failed as well, and the public address announcer and an official with a stopwatch had to keep time manually for the remainder of the contest.

Brooklyn was unfazed by the distraction, and Johnson continued his dominant play, helping the Nets take a 61-53 advantage with bucket and then an assist to Mason Plumlee. However, Toronto bounced back to pull within five, 67-62 at the end of the third quarter.

After running his starters through the gamut once again in the third, Coach Kidd gave the reins to the reserve group at the start of the fourth. But by the midway point of the quarter, Toronto tied the game, and Coach Kidd had to bring back Williams, Paul Pierce and Garnett to join Johnson and Shaun Livingston on the court with 6:25 left and the score knotted at 73.

Livingston put the Nets back in front with a turnaround jumper, only to see Raptors guard Greivis Vasquez answer with a trey that gave Toronto a one-point lead with 5:13 remaining and send the sell-out home crowd to its feet. However, Coach Kidd’s veterans rallied behind a familiar theme set forth by their rookie coach and scored 11 of the next 13 points to put the game away.

“We’ve talked all season about what the six-minute mark means to our team and the veteran guys making plays for one another, sharing the ball. A play might be called for someone, but a teammate might be ending up with the shot. Tonight was a perfect example of that with Deron and Joe playing in the pick and roll and Paul benefitting from that and taking advantage of that.”

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd shouts instructions from the sidelinesJohnson responded to the Vasquez three with a 17-foot floater that gave Brooklyn the lead back for good. From there, the day was won by Garnett and Pierce, the two players tabbed by a Toronto newspapers as “dinosaurs” and were relatively quiet before the final stretch of the game.

Entering the closing minutes, Garnett was 0-for-4 from the field and Pierce had hit on just 2-of-9 of their attempts, but the veterans never lost confidence and their teammates kept going back to them until they finally found success.

First it was Garnett, who grabbed the rebound on a missed Raptors shot. On the ensuing Nets possession, Pierce dished the ball back to Garnett and the seasoned veteran came through with a mid-range turnaround jumper to give Brooklyn a 79-76 lead with 3:41 to go.

“I thought that just symbolized who we are as a team,” Jason said, “that we trust each other no matter what someone is shooting from the floor or how someone is playing, we all trust that someone is going to step up and make a shot.”

Brooklyn’s defense buckled down from there, including forcing a shot clock violation from the Raptors. After the game, Coach Kidd credited the Nets’ team defense with as much responsibility for the victory as the late offense. Brooklyn forced 19 turnovers from Toronto and refused to let the Raptors’ key players get open down the stretch.

“Playoff basketball is about getting stops at crucial times in the game,” Jason said. “Everybody helped one another, trying to take away the three, understanding that they have guys who can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. Our team defense of helping one another was big tonight to give us a chance to win on the road.”

Pierce followed the 19th Toronto turnover with a trey to put the Nets in front by six, then answered a Raptors layup with one of his own before adding two more jumpers to give Brooklyn an 88-81 lead with 1:10 to go.

“You just get that feeling in the game and I’ve been in those situations a number of times,” Pierce said. “You know, I don’t get rattled in fourth quarters or down the stretch in playoff settings. I’ve been in pretty much every playoff setting that you can imagine so I just try to stay calm and bring my calmness to the game and just try to compose the rest of the guys and I thought we did a great job today.”

Soon after Pierce’s dagger, clutch free throw makes from Johnson and Williams iced the game and secured a 94-87 Game 1 win.

“It was a wonderful game to watch, and probably for players, to participate in,” Jason said. “We have to now go look back and see what we can get better at and be ready for Game 2 because we know that Toronto is going to be very aggressive to try to get a split out of this. We have to try to make those guys work. Hopefully we can do that in Game 2.”


NEXT UP

The Nets made the strategic decision to head back home after their Game 1 victory and will get two days of practice at their own facility before heading back to Toronto on Monday night ahead of Tuesday’s game 2 when Coach Kidd’s team will look to take a 2-0 series advantage.

Tip-off for Game 2 at Air Canada Centre is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST and the game can be viewed locally on the YES Network and nationally on NBATV.

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