There’s no two ways about it, the Brooklyn Nets have to win Game 3 on Friday if they want to avoid being swept by the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs. As much as they have two chances to avoid a sweep, if Brooklyn goes down 3-0 to the reigning NBA champs, the Raptors will make sure to finish things off in Game 4 so they can start recovering for the second round as quickly as possible.
And the Nets are going to have to figure out how to knock off the Raptors without Joe Harris, who will miss Game 3 and 4 after leaving the bubble for what Tyler Johnson called an emergency family matter.
INJURIES: Jamal Crawford is still dealing with a left hamstring strain and remains unavailable for Brooklyn. … Patrick McCaw is still out of the bubble and dealing with a benign mass in his knee.
RAPTORS ROSTER:
- OG Anunoby
- Chris Boucher
- Oshae Brissett
- Terence Davis
- Marc Gasol
- Dewan Hernandez
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
- Serge Ibaka
- Stanley Johnson
- Kyle Lowry
- Malcolm Miller
- Pascal Siakam
- Matt Thomas
- Fred VanVleet
- Paul Watson
QUICK STATS: The Raptors outshot the Nets from the floor overall in Game 2 (43.7% vs. 38.8%), but Brooklyn shot better from long-range (34.1% vs. 25.7%). … The Nets had nearly double the number of turnovers the Raptors had in Game 2 (17 vs. 9). .. Although Brooklyn lost Game 2, the Nets held the largest lead in the contest (14 vs. 8).
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