Nets at Raptors
The Toronto Raptors had their franchise-record 12-game home winning streak come to an end on Sunday with a 113-107 loss to the Houston Rockets. The Raptors will try to begin another streak and keep the pressure on the Cleveland Cavaliers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference when they host the Brooklyn Nets on Monday.
Toronto enters the week three games behind Cleveland for the top spot in the East and has four opponents left on its seven-game homestand. The setback to the Rockets marked the Raptors’ first home loss since Jan. 3 and was the rare instance of All-Star guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry getting outscored by the opposing backcourt. That is unlikely to happen twice in a row with the road-weary Nets and their leaky defense coming to town on the eighth stop of a nine-game trip. Brooklyn allowed the Minnesota Timberwolves to shoot a franchise-record 68.4 percent from the floor in a 132-118 loss on Saturday and has dropped three of its last four games.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), Sportsnet One (Toronto)
ABOUT THE NETS (18-45): Brooklyn gave starting center Brook Lopez and power forward Thaddeus Young the night off on Saturday and watched the defense fall apart as a result. “I think our other guys who got a chance to play, they have to show more energy, play with a little bit more effort and play together on both ends of the floor,” Nets interim coach Tony Brown told reporters. “We didn’t get a lot of that (on Saturday).” Thomas Robinson got the start in place of Young and was solid on the offensive end with 18 points and 17 rebounds in 40 minutes.
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (41-20): Lowry and DeRozan combined for 36 points on Sunday, four fewer than James Harden had alone in the rare home setback. Toronto held an 18-point lead over the Rockets before falling off the pace and were concerned after the contest that giving up leads is becoming a pattern. “We have to understand that teams are going to make a run,” DeRozan told reporters. “They are going to turn it up offensively and be super aggressive. We have to do the same thing defensively and understand that’s really the time that we have to get critical stops.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Raptors C Jonas Valanciunas has recorded back-to-back double-doubles and is going for three straight for the first time since Nov. 10-13.
2. Nets reserve G Markel Brown averaged 22 points in the last two games.
3. Toronto has taken both meetings this season by an average of 14.5 points.