Without Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons, the Nets stretch the definition of what it is to an NBA basketball team. Something tells me the Raptors, fresh off a pair of weekend games in which they themselves barely looked like they belonged, will not lose sleep after completely waxing the skeleton version of their fellow play-in contenders on Monday night.
Toronto hasn’t had a get well win as necessary as this one in ages. Not only did this enter this one sporting a -59 point differential since the All-Star break (-77 over their last four games), but the game kicked off a back-to-back, home-and-home series with the Nets — the team directly behind them in the standings, which will soon welcome back the kind of star power that can go on a run quick.