Andrei Kirilenko and the Nets return to Brooklyn for Game 6 on Friday night.
Credit: Getty Images
At the halfway point of the 2013-14 season many experts felt Kyle Lowry would end up on another roster come playoff time.
Instead, he’s spent it torturing the Nets.
Lowry had 36 points, including 21 in the first half, as the Raptors held on to beat Brooklyn, 115-113, in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead.
The game got away from the Nets at the close of the first half. After pulling even at 40-40 with 4:34 to play, the Raptors finished on a 22-4 run, including a running, banked-in 3-pointer at the buzzer by Kyle Lowry.
The Nets fought hard in the second half, tying the game at 106-106 on a 3-pointer by Mirza Teletovic with 1:23 to play. But again Lowry made a big shot to put Toronto up and they’d never give the lead back. The Nets had a chance, securing a rebound off an intentionally missed free throw, but Andray Blatche threw it away with one second left.
Joe Johnson fought valiantly for the Nets, but he was about the only starter who did. He finished with 30 points on 13-of-23 shooting as Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Deron Williams disappeared in the fourth quarter. Head coach Jason Kidd didn’t make any subs for the lion share of the final quarter, doing so only in the final seconds. Williams, Johnson, Blatche, Teletovic and Alan Anderson played all but a couple seconds the entire quarter.
Follow Metro New York Sports Editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports.
