Three Takeaways From The Raptors’ Emphatic Game Three Victory Over Brooklyn

The depleted Nets again lacked the juice to compete against the deeper Raptors and fell, 117-92, to Toronto in Game 3 of their first-round series.

Without sharpshooting wing Joe Harris joining all their other absences, Brooklyn never really made this one close, and by the end of the blowout loss, they lost the fight that has been their trademark under Jacque Vaughn.

Here are the three biggest takeaways from Toronto’s big win.

Fred VanVleet’s playoff heroics are back

VanVleet finished with 22 points and six made threes, a typically efficient scoring night for him. The combo guard has been one of the biggest factors in Toronto weathering the departure of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, but by nailing a three from half court, VanVleet took things to a whole other level.

Not even he thought that was going in when he let if fly.

This might be the extent of the Raptors’ playoff rotation

Despite winning in convincing fashion, Toronto coach Nick Nurse stuck with an eight-man rotation for most of the game. While Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was out with a knee injury, Nurse also kept Stanley Johnson, Chris Boucher, and the rest of his bench seated. Nurse has zero qualms about mixing things up at a moment’s notice, and it’s nice to have a sharpshooter like Matt Thomas or an energy big like Boucher available in a pinch. But these are clearly Toronto’s eight best players, and this may be the extent of their rotation the rest of the way.

Tyler Johnson may have saved his NBA career in Orlando

After a trade sent him from Miami to Phoenix at the 2019 trade deadline, Johnson looked like a shell of himself as the Suns’ Sixth Man during the 2019-20 season. Things got so bad that Johnson was ultimately cut this spring even as the Suns clearly needed help at backup guard.

But Brooklyn nabbed him off the scrap heap heading into the Bubble, and Johnson has looked like his old self. There are far worse options as a fourth guard, as Johnson is a good spot-up shooter, a solid passer, and won’t cause things to fall apart on defense. Before the Bubble, it was an open question whether Johnson got another chance after playing so poorly for the Suns, but after another strong outing in Game 3 with a team-high 23 points on 15 shot attempts, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him suit up for someone — whether it be the Nets or a different franchise — next season.