The Toronto Raptors came extremely close to claiming their second first round series win on Sunday Night, but unfortunately they came up 1 point short on Sunday afternoon. From the second quarter on, the Brooklyn Nets seemed to be in complete control of the game, but with three minutes left in the game the Raptors made their run. Led their leader Kyle Lowry, the Raptors quickly made up a double digit deficit late in the fourth quarter. It became a free throw contest late, in which Deron Williams missed a free throw to keep the game a one possession contest. But at that point, down three a player who had been basically invisible all series stepped up for his squad when they needed him the most. Terrence Ross drove on Joe Johnson and hit a tough layup to bring the game to one point, and then stole the Brooklyn inbound to give the Raptors possession with 6 seconds left. Dwayne Casey turned to the Bulldog of Bay Street on an isolation play to give the Raptors the win, but Paul Pierce soared in and blocked Lowry’s last second floater to give the Nets the thrilling 104-103 victory.
This was a heart-breaking end to what was a very successful season for the Raptors. Kyle 
Lowry once again led the way for his squad with 28 points and 6 assists, while Demar Derozan played an all-around game with 18 points and 6 assists. Amir Johnson battle the suspicious officiating all game, but still managed to have 20 and 10 in only 20 minutes of action. These three players carried the Raptors on a game where other key players such as Jonas Valanciunas weren’t producing.
Joe Johnson was the main contributor for the Nets, as once again no one on the Raptors was able to guard him. He finished with 28 points, but his impact on the game was even more than his stats show. He forced double teams on almost every possession, and forced many Raptors into foul trouble. Kevin Garnett woke up for his first double-double of the series, while fellow former Celtic Paul Pierce had foul issues and was largely ineffective. The Nets now move on the second round, to visit the might Miami Heat on Tuesday Night. Miami will be sitting on almost a week and a half off as they disposed of Charlotte easily in four games.
Masai Ujiri and the Raptors’ management now move into an offseason filled with pressure to resign some of the important parts of this year’s squad. He has already taken the first step in doing so, by signing Coach Dwayne Casey to a three year extension on Monday. Kyle Lowry will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, while Amir Johnson will be a restricted free agent. John Salmons and Tyler Hansbrough both have one million dollar buyouts to clear up cap space if the General Manager chooses to do so. It promises to be an interesting offseason for the Raptors, but it surely won’t live up to the outstanding season that the ultimate underdog story put together this year.
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