It can’t be overstated how crucial it was for the Raptors to win on Tuesday night against Brooklyn, their first game back home in front of a full house since mid-December.
After picking up the first half of the back-to-back in comfortable fashion Monday night, Toronto entered Tuesday with a chance to stake a real claim to, at worst, the seventh seed in the rugged East. A win, and the Raptors would put four games between them and Brooklyn, with just 19 games left on the Nets schedule. Plus, the game meant the difference between the Nets holding the head-to-head tiebreaker with a 3-1 edge in the season series, or a 2-2 split putting the next tiebreaker criteria (divisional record) very much up for grabs, with both teams sitting at 7-5 against Atlantic Division opponents.