Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Thaddeus Young capped a season-high 29- point night with a tie-breaking tip-in with 22.2 seconds remaining, helping lift the surging Brooklyn Nets to a critical 114-109 triumph over the Toronto Raptors.
Young was one of three Nets who came up with huge performances in Brooklyn's season-best sixth straight win, which kept the team ahead of Miami for the Eastern Conference's seventh seed.
Deron Williams also reached a season high with 31 points while dishing out 11 assists, while Brook Lopez poured in 30 points and grabbed 17 rebounds.
"Deron, Brook, Thad really had it going tonight," said Nets forward Joe Johnson. "They carried us throughout the whole game."
The Atlantic Division champion Raptors had a three-game win streak halted despite a 27-point, eight-rebound, eight-assist effort out of DeMar DeRozan. Lou Williams contributed 23 points off the bench and Jonas Valanciunas posted 21 points and nine rebounds in defeat.
An exciting fourth quarter that contained nine lead changes saw the teams all knotted at 109-109 when DeRozan stuck a baseline jumper with 36.9 seconds to play. Deron Williams couldn't get a short runner to fall on the other end, but Young was in perfect position to tip in the miss and record the eventual game- winner.
DeRozan misfired on the ensuing possession and Young tipped the rebound out to Johnson, who was fouled from behind by DeRozan and hit the sealing two free throws with just 9.6 seconds on the clock.
"We were in the right place, right position, (but) you've got to end it with a rebound," Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said of the final stretch. "For all the good we did, some of the stops we had, (in) the situations that we had you've got to go in and clean up the boards. The last couple plays were indicative of that."
Toronto had been in control midway through the third quarter, building its largest lead of the evening at 71-62. The Nets answered with a 9-2 run, during which Deron Williams drained a pair of 3-pointers, and the game remained razor-tight from there.
"We held together, as we have been this past group of games," Lopez said. "We're all playing together, playing confident."
Lopez brought the Barclays Center crowd to its feet with a monster jam that put Brooklyn up 97-94 with 5:41 left, but triples from Lou Williams and Patrick Patterson keyed a 7-2 spurt that sent the Raptors ahead by two heading towards the four-minute mark.
The Nets then inched slightly in front before DeRozan sank a driving runner for a 107-106 Toronto edge with 1:05 remaining. Deron Williams countered with a 3-ball on the next trip down the court and DeRozan swiftly responded by draining a pull-up to set up the thrilling finish.
Toronto trailed by 10 points late in the first quarter, but outscored the Nets by a 27-15 count in the second to build a 54-49 halftime advantage. The Raptors closed out the period on a 7-2 run, keyed by a Flagrant 1 foul called on Johnson that led to a four-point possession when Valanciunas followed two DeRozan free throws with a successful short jumper.
Deron Williams was the star of the opening quarter, putting up 11 points and capping a 10-4 swing with a layup that staked the Nets to a 25-17 lead just over eight minutes in. Brooklyn owned a 34-27 edge entering the second after Patterson beat the buzzer on a 3-point try.
The Raptors evened the score at 40-40 with a 6-0 run finished off by a Greivis Vasquez triple near the midway mark of the second quarter.
Game Notes
Toronto's Amir Johnson did not return after injuring his right ankle early in the third quarter ... The Nets outscored the Raptors by a 74-48 margin in the paint ... Lopez is averaging 27.2 points and 10.1 rebounds during an 8-1 stretch for Brooklyn ... Deron Williams, who went 5-of-7 from 3-point range, was coming off a 26-point effort in the Nets' 100-98 win at New York on Wednesday ... Lou Williams made 5-of-8 attempts from beyond the arc for the Raptors.
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