Trendon Watford scored 19 points off the bench and the visiting Brooklyn Nets ended a six-game losing streak with a 96-88 win over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
It was the 11th consecutive loss for the Raptors (23-49).
Dennis Schroder, who started the season with Toronto, also had 19 points for Brooklyn (27-45). Mikal Bridges added 13 points, Jalen Wilson scored 12 and Dorian Finney-Smith had 11. Nic Claxton had nine points and 16 rebounds.
Gary Trent Jr. led Toronto with 18 points. Kelly Olynyk had 10 points and nine assists for the undermanned Raptors, who last won on March 3. Javon Freeman-Liberty scored 15 points and Bruce Brown added 10 off the bench.
Toronto took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. Watford’s 3-pointer gave Brooklyn a one-point lead with 9:39 left in the game. The margin reached three on a 3-pointer by Bridges 39 seconds later, and Bridges made a floater to bump the lead to seven with 7:20 to go.
After Olynyk’s 7-footer trimmed the lead to three with just under four minutes to play, Claxton dunked to make the lead five, then forced a turnover with 3:18 to go. Schroder’s back-to-back baskets made it a nine-point lead and put the game away.
Brooklyn led 22-20 after the first quarter.
The Nets opened the second quarter with five straight points before the Raptors responded with four straight points. Toronto took a one-point lead on Ochai Agbaji’s layup with 5:39 to play, but Brooklyn responded with a 10-0 spurt. Toronto pulled within two points on Trent’s bank shot with 2:10 remaining before Brooklyn carried a 49-45 lead into halftime.
The Nets started the third quarter with four straight points before the Raptors eventually used a 9-0 run to take a one-point lead on Olynyk’s layup with 6:57 to play in the period. The lead changed hands two more times in the third before Toronto held a 69-68 edge heading into the fourth.
Dennis Smith Jr. (hip), Cam Thomas (back) and Cameron Johnson (toe) were among the missing for Brooklyn.
Among the missing for Toronto were Scottie Barnes (hand), Jakob Poeltl (finger), RJ Barrett (reconditioning), Immanuel Quickley (reconditioning) and Jontay Porter (personal).
–Field Level Media
