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It all comes down to pride at this point.
The Brooklyn Nets can either be on the wrong side of history and get a jumpstart on recovering for the 2020-21 NBA season or fight back.
The Toronto Raptors have never swept a team in an NBA Playoffs series. This is the first time they’ve taken a 3-0 series lead over a team.
While it seems imminent that the Raptors will move on to the second round, the Nets can still avoid being Toronto’s first sweep.
Tyler Johnson, who did well for himself in Game 3 (23 points), told reporters on a Zoom Call after Friday’s game he expects he and his teammates to go all out in Game 4 — like they have throughout most of their games in the Disney bubble:
We’ve been short-handed since we’ve been in the bubble. I’m pretty sure we shocked some people by winning five [seeding] games going down the stretch. The narrative really hasn’t changed throughout the entirety of the playoffs. As far as being a Brooklyn Net and having that grit, we’re all so fortunate to be able to play basketball in the first place. You’ve seen how easily it can be taken away from you. Going into this next game, man, we gotta understand it’s a blessing to be able to be out here on the court. We have so much turmoil in our country, we have so much craziness surrounding politics, so we’re just fortunate and blessed to be able to just put on a uniform, let our minds go and just play basketball. We gotta show that going into next game, just leave it all out there on the floor. [Jacque Vaugh] has done a good job of putting guys in the right spots, the entire coaching staff has. It’s not up to anybody else — it’s up to us.
Either way, Sunday’s 6:30 p.m. contest will be another tough one for Brooklyn, especially since Joe Harris will once again be unavailable.