Watch: Kyrie Irving's buzzer-beater lifts Nets over Raptors
On Friday night, the Brooklyn Nets shook off an early first-half deficit to defeat the Toronto Raptors, 119-116 , thanks to a step-back three-pointer by guard Kyrie Irving with 0.1 seconds left on the fourth-quarter clock.
With the Nets and Raptors knotted up at 116 apiece, Irving secured an inbound pass from Ben Simmons with 3.7 seconds left. Irving drove quickly on Toronto's Fred VanVleet, stopped on a dime and drilled the game-winner to silence the Scotiabank Crowd.
Despite trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half, Brooklyn cut Toronto's lead to 10 at halftime, 62-52. In the third, the Nets got back into the game, outscoring the Raptors 36-22 to take a slim four-point advantage into the fourth. In the final stanza, the teams traded baskets, setting up Irving's late-game theatrics.
Irving finished with a team-high 32 points, shooting 13-of-22 from the field and 3-of-9 from beyond the arc while adding five assists and three rebounds.
Irving and the Nets have won five games in a row and nine of their last 10. At 18-12, Brooklyn is four games back of the Boston Celtics (22-8) for the Atlantic Division lead and ranks fourth behind the Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks (20-8) and Cleveland Cavaliers (19-11) in the Eastern Conference.
The seven-time All-Star has played 13 games for the Nets since returning from a suspension handed down by the team back in November. Irving shared a link to a movie promoting hateful misinformation about Jewish people on social media, then initially refused to denounce antisemitism, leading to the suspension. Irving has since apologized, but brands continue to distance themselves. Earlier this month, Nike announced that the pair had "mutually decided to part ways."
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