The final game of the seeding round on the NBA Campus gave the Brooklyn Nets what they were looking for headed into next week’s NBA playoffs. Faced with the urgency and intensity of a Portland Trail Blazers squad playing with its season on the line, the Nets matched everything the Blazers had right up until the final possession in a 134-133 loss.
Caris LeVert finished with 37 points and scored nine of Brooklyn’s final 11 points, including a three-point play that got the Nets within a point with 37.7 seconds to go, before his jumper for the win missed the mark at the buzzer. He also had nine assists.
With the win, the Blazers survived to advance to the Western Conference’s play-in for the eighth and final seed. The Nets had their playoff spot locked up, and maybe if the game had gone differently, it would have been a shorter night for LeVert, Jarrett Allen, Joe Harris, and Garrett Temple. Instead, they all played 32-plus minutes in a high-scoring thriller that took centerstage for the NBA on Thursday night with the stakes involved.
“That was something we talked about at the beginning of the game, having the opportunity to feel what this atmosphere is going to be like, what the intensity is going to be like moving forward in the playoffs,” said Tyler Johnson. “For some of these guys who — even myself, who has maybe some playoff experience — or no prior playoff experience moving forward and just what it’s going to be like in the attention to detail.”
With the loss, the Nets finished their eight-game seeding schedule with a 5-3 record. In between the one-sided opening loss to Orlando and the down-to-the-wire finale against Portland, they won five of six games, holding on to the seventh-seed position they brought to Orlando and locking it up with room to spare. They did this while working in five new players and asking most of the rest of the roster to step into larger roles and take on greater responsibility.
LeVert’s 30-point game against Portland was his second of the set, and he has averaged 25.0 points on 48.0 percent shooting with 6.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds on the NBA Campus.
“I feel like, as a team, we got better each and every game,” said LeVert. “That’s what we wanted to do when we came down here. We were a new group. Obviously, we knew we had a lot to accomplish in order to keep the seventh spot and get some momentum going into the playoffs, and I think we did that. I’m proud of this group for that, but the job is not done. We have a tough series coming up against Toronto, and that’s what we’re looking forward to right now.”
Next up will be the playoff matchup against second-seeded Toronto. The NBA released the playoff schedule on Thursday, and the Nets will open as the road team against the higher seeded Raptors at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, with games scheduled to be played every other day.
Joe Harris had 19 points in the loss to Portland to finish up the seeding round averaging 20.0 points and shooting 62.0 percent overall and 54.1 percent from 3-point range. Against the Blazers he extended his streak of games with at least one 3-pointer made to 60, one short of the franchise record.
“I think you look at us and we’re gonna compete,” said Harris. “We’ve shown that from the moment that we got here in scrimmages until now. We’re gonna compete. We’re gonna play the right way. We’re gonna sacrifice for one another on the defensive end. We’re gonna share the ball offensively. And then we have guys coming into their own, too. Caris is arguably one of the best players down here right now, and when you have someone like that on your team, it makes the game a lot easier for everyone else. And then as I mentioned in the previous question, we’ve had a lot of guys step up. I think a lot of that is a testament to (head coach Jacque Vaughn) and the rest of the coaching staff. They’ve just instilled a lot of confidence in every single guy on this roster. That this is an opportunity for you, this is what we know you’re capable of doing, go in play free, play loose and play with confidence.”
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot also had 19 points, making 5-of-9 3-pointers and grabbing eight rebounds, and Johnson had 16 points.
Allen and Temple both posted double-doubles — the 30th of the season for Allen — with Allen finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds and Temple with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Nets shot 55.2 percent overall and 42.4 percent from 3-point range, and had 28 assists, the sixth time in eight games in Orlando they had at least 26 assists.
“The way we’ve been playing, it’s great,” said Temple. “The way we’ve been sharing the ball, I think we must be averaging 29 assists while we’re here in the bubble and shooting the 3-ball pretty well. That’s what we’re going to have to do against Toronto. They scramble a lot, scramble a great deal. They give up a good amount of threes though, so if we can make the right passes, shoot shots when we get them, knock down some shots, I think that bodes well for us.”
The Nets trailed 73-67 after a rapid-fire first half, shooting 59.1 percent in the half to counter Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum’s combined 35 points.
The Nets were trailing 25-19 in the first quarter when Johnson and Luwawu-Cabarrot knocked down back-to-back threes to start a 9-2 run that put the Nets up 28-27. After another Johnson 3-pointer, the Nets were tied at 31 going into the second quarter. LeVert had 18 points and seven assists in the half, shooting 8-for-14, as the Nets trailed by six at halftime.
He kept rolling to start the third quarter, scoring 10 of Brooklyn’s first 15 points after the break. The final six of those were the start of a 15-1 Brooklyn run. Temple followed with a 3-pointer, Rodions Kurucs tipped in a rebound, and Temple made two free throws for a 91-85 lead.
The Nets ended up outscoring Portland 23-6 after a pair of Johnson baskets put them up 99-90, and a Luwawu-Cabarrot 3-pointer stretched the Brooklyn lead to 10 at 102-92, with the Nets taking a 104-97 lead into the fourth quarter.
But Lillard, who finished with 42 points, shot the Blazers back into it. His third 3-pointer of the fourth quarter put Portland back in the lead, 117-116. A 6-0 burst had the Nets up 122-117, but after LeVert put Brooklyn up 126-122, a 12-4 run had the Blazers leading 134-130 with just under a minute to go.
Ultimately, LeVert’s final shot came up short, but the Nets have the playoffs to look forward to.
“Coming down here wasn't going to be easy,” said LeVert. “We knew we were going to have to come together as a group of guys, group of teammates, if we didn't do that we didn't have a shot. Hats off to our vets, hats off to everyone in the organization for coming together as quickly as we did. Like I said we played a great eight games but now it's time to really lock in this weekend for the playoffs. There's no moral victories. So we have to lock in these next couple of days.”