The Toronto Raptors have been a poor late-game team all season. Last second possessions haven’t been great, a few turnovers, more misses, and a lot of Kawhi Leonard isolations. Against Brooklyn, we still saw the last second isolation, except this time, it worked.
Toronto trailed nearly the entire first half, so when they battled back for an eight-point fourth quarter lead, it appeared as if they would pull away. Instead, it took last second heroics to mount a win in the final minutes.
What did we learn from the win? Here are my three big takeaways:
No shared Ibaka and Gasol minutes
Nick Nurse hinted at the idea Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol could share the court together in a traditional frontcourt look, similar to what we saw last season.