And while Jacque Vaughn got his wish with a 115-103 win over the Raptors, the Nets were eliminated from the tournament on point differential.
As much of the rest of the league had its eyes locked onto the In-Season Tournament that heads into the quarterfinals next week, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn kept his attention on a more traditional result: a victory on Tuesday night.
Facing the Raptors at Barclays Center, the Nets needed a lopsided win over Toronto, as well as some help from some other teams — including the Celtics.
And while Vaughn got his wish with a 115-103 win over the Raptors, the Nets were eliminated from the tournament on point differential.
“I try not to complicate things,” Vaughn said before the game. “I’m thinking about getting a win [Tuesday]. That’s my main focus and message to the group. All the other ramifications that can come from it, I guess I’ll deal with it if it presents itself at some point in the game. I’d like to have one in the win column at the end of the night.”
He got it, as the Nets picked up their second three-game winning streak of the season and improved to 9-8, as Toronto fell to 8-10.
And the narrow win was hardly a given.
