Canberra’s Patty Mills has stepped up with a monster performance as his under-strength Brooklyn Nets overcame the Toronto Raptors 131-129 in an NBA overtime thriller.
The Nets were without seven players including starters James Harden, LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre’ Bembry under COVID-19 protocols and only had eight players available players when Kevin Durant (sore ankle) was upgraded from questionable just before Tuesday night’s game in New York.
Mills went into the starting five and scored 30 points – just four short of his NBA career high – including a 3-pointer to force overtime while playing a whopping 43 minutes for the Eastern Conference leaders, who improved their season record to 20-8.
The 33-year-old Australian’s points tally was a season-high and included seven 3-pointers.
Responding to his late addition, Durant produced the 14th triple-double of his career, scoring 34 points, pulling down 13 rebounds and dishing out 11 assists.
The Raptors led 100-91 going into the fourth quarter But Brooklyn outscored them 26-11 over the next seven minutes, regaining the lead, 109-108, on a Mills 3-pointer with 7:12 left, and his left side 3-pointer with 4:43 left extended the lead to 117-111.
It didn’t last. Scottie Barnes knocked down two 3-pointers for the Raptors to tie the game, and a Gary Trent 3-pointer with 1:21 left gave them a 120-117 lead, which held until Mills’ off-balance 3-pointer with 13 seconds left forced overtime.
In extra time, the Raptors were down by just 130-129 when Mills split two free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining before Barnes’ three-point try bounced away off the top of the rim at the buzzer.
Nets coach Steve Nash admitted the club’s issues with players under virus protocols would take some time to resolve themselves.
“First we concern ourselves with their health and safety,” said Nash.
“Fortunately for us, they’re predominantly asymptomatic but there will be a period of time required for them to test negative (before we can) have our full group available again.”
“We’re not naive enough to not have concerns about more people contracting the virus, but that’s out of our hands,” Nash said. “Overall, we can’t do a lot right now except wait for results to come in and control what’s in our hands.”
The Nets have been playing short-handed all season after star Kyrie Irving refused to get vaccinated, which ruled him out for home games because of a New York City vaccine mandate. The team decided not to let him play solely in road games.
AAP
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