Fred VanVleet Dropped 30 Points And 11 Assists As The Raptors Blew Out The Nets

The Toronto Raptors were overwhelming favorites against the Brooklyn Nets both in Game 1 and in their first round series overall, and on Monday afternoon they showed why.

Toronto ran out to a 33-point lead in the first half behind stellar play from Fred VanVleet, who became the first player in franchise history to post a 30-point, 10-assist game, as he finished with 30 and 11, including eight threes.

To the Nets credit, they battled throughout, including a 44-20 run at one point to cut the Raptors lead to as few as nine in the third quarter — and again to that same number in the fourth. Caris LeVert had 15 points and 15 assists as he initiated almost all of the offense for Brooklyn, while Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot continues his hot shooting in Orlando with 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

Unfortunately for Brooklyn, Toronto tightened up the clamps in the closing stretch on defense and VanVleet and company ran away with what was eventually a 134-110 win. The Nets have showed tremendous resiliency throughout the restart, but they’re simply out-classed by this Toronto team and need better three-point shooting from everyone not named TLC. Everyone other than Luwawu-Cabarrot was 7-for-33 from three-point range, and against an elite defense like Toronto’s, that is a recipe for disaster.

The Raptors continue to look like one of the league’s best teams and a legitimate championship contender thanks to their defense and VanVleet taking over as a legit No. 1 offensive weapon. They’ll continue to look to build on their performance going forward in this series and get everyone aside from VanVleet in rhythm, but this figures to be a pretty short first round series and then they can turn their attention to either Boston or Philly.