Positive Nash, Aldridge on the field is not enough to save Brooklyn from a heavy defeat. KD is back on Thursday
The umpteenth surreal day of a particular season gives the Nets (32-30) many doubts and another heavy defeat. Brooklyn, remodeled as usual, immediately went into trouble against the Raptors (33-27) and was dominated far and wide, closing a one-way match with the huge success, 133-97, for the Canadian team.
Positive Nash
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A pre-match full of surprises especially for Steve Nash who, after having met the journalists for the usual press conference, receives the news, just a few minutes before the tap-off, of his positivity and is thus forced to immediately go to quarantine. It is not yet clear whether this is a false positivity, given that in the morning the Canadian technician, totally asymptomatic, had produced a negative swab, the covid protocol however was immediately triggered, locking Nash and promoting Jacque Vaughn to head coach.
The match
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On the parquet, things get complicated immediately for the New York team back from the great success in Milwaukee. The rookie Barnes makes good and bad weather, the defense of Brooklyn, however, dances in a worrying way and Toronto after a few minutes already has full control of the match. The flashes of Aldridge are not enough, the guests accelerate in the second part of a practically perfect first quarter and with a partial of 15-6 they arrive at +15 which directs the race. The Canadian team scores 42 points in the first fraction with the Barnes-Flynn duo that seems absolutely unstoppable. The music does not change in the second quarter, Toronto in attack finds everyone in the shots he wants, Barnes makes no mistakes and Brooklyn sinks. At half-time the result is already in the safe for the guests ahead 71-48. Scottie Barnes in the first two quarters alone puts 24 points and nine rebounds on the scoresheet, shooting with a perfect 10/10 from the field. All too easy for the Raptors who do not lower the level of concentration in the second half, continue to produce a great basketball, reaching +39 which also produces some whistles from the Brooklyn fans. The rest is academia.
Looking forward to KD
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The return of Kevin Durant, scheduled for Thursday when Miami, the team with the best Eastern Conference record, arrives at Barclays, becomes fundamental, but Brooklyn needs a very different attitude compared to the approach, beyond the absences, shown against the Raptors. “There was confusion in the pre-match with the news of Steve’s positivity – underlines coach Vaughn – but there are no excuses, we played badly with the wrong approach, now we have to quickly forget the bad performance and focus on tomorrow’s match in Toronto. “.
Brooklyn: Aldridge 15 (4/5, 1/3, 4/4 tl), Brown, Thomas 14. Rebounds: Sharpe 7. Assist: Dragic 5.
Toronto: Barnes 28 (11/13, 1/1, 3/4 tl), Achiuwa 20, Flynn 18. Rebounds: Barnes 16. Assist: Siakam 6.
March 1, 2022 (change March 1, 2022 | 07:32)
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