The Brooklyn Nets spent their two days off figuring out ways to rebound from their least productive offensive showing of the season.
The Toronto Raptors spent Saturday attempting their most 3-pointers while struggling to consistently rebound.
Coming off disappointing performances, the Atlantic Division foes get together for the third time this season on Sunday when the Nets host the Raptors.
Toronto earned a 119-109 victory in Brooklyn on Nov. 11 when it made 9-of-35 attempts from 3-point range, and the Raptors sank 15-of-30 in their 119-109 home win on Nov. 23. Those wins were part of a nine-game winning streak for Toronto, which is just 3-7 in its last 10 games.
The Raptors snapped a four-game skid with road wins over the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks before dropping a 112-96 decision to the visiting Boston Celtics on Saturday. Toronto made 16 of its season-high 47 attempts from 3-point range while getting outrebounded 55-37 in that game.
The Raptors allowed 17 offensive rebounds and gave up 23 second-chance points.
“Because of that, we were not able to get stops and run and then play our style of basketball, and we became a more half-court team. That really was the problem,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said after his team was outscored 54-32 in the paint.
Brandon Ingram and Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 24 points apiece for Toronto.
Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley struggled, however. Barnes was held to 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting while Quickley finished with three points and missed 11 of 12 shots from the floor.
It was the fifth time in six games that Barnes was held under 20 points.
Quickley is 4-of-23 from the field in his past two contests, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range.
The Raptors also struggled on the glass without Jakob Poeltl, whose sore back caused him to miss a second straight game and may keep him out again Sunday.
“The situation with Jak is such that it’s a day-to-day thing. He has lower back pain that comes and goes,” Rajakovic said.
The Nets are coming off two vastly different results in their previous appearances.
After tying a franchise record with a 45-point win over Milwaukee last Sunday, Brooklyn scored its fewest points all season in Thursday’s 106-95 home loss to the Heat.
Brooklyn shot 38.8% from the floor and also attempted 49 shots from 3-point range.
“Little mistakes that you can correct, and shots going in or not — I’m happy with the looks that we had that didn’t go in,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “So sometimes, a little bit of that is the difference, right?”
Michael Porter Jr. led the Nets with 28 points and Nic Claxton added 16 to go along with 12 rebounds. Egor Demin continued to show rookie inconsistencies by getting 14 but shot 5-of-18.
The Nets lost Drake Powell to an ankle injury in the first half on Thursday. He will miss the game on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
