Hardwood Highlight of the Night: Johnson, DeRozan execute inbounds play to force OT
The Toronto Raptors hung on to pull off a thrilling 127-122 overtime road victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
Despite the Raptors' best efforts to hand the game away, the team settled in late to win its fifth consecutive contest in a matchup that featured a little bit of everything. It was full of excitement, at times ugly, and got chippy as the night progressed.
The Raptors improved to 2-0 against the Nets after Brooklyn ended their 2014 season in seven games in May during the first round of the playoffs.
Toronto almost blew a 17-point lead Friday, but late execution off an inbounds play allowed the Raptors to tie the game and force overtime before securing the victory.
After Brook Lopez gave the Nets a two-point lead by nailing one of two shots at the free throw line, the Raptors called a timeout to get the ball with 21.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Inbounder Lou Williams threw the ball to point guard Kyle Lowry, and then immediately curled down to the right baseline to set a screen and free up Amir Johnson.
Johnson made his way toward Lowry, who was operating at the top of the arc, and received the ball by the left elbow.
The plan was to get the ball to shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, which is exactly what Johnson did.
Johnson immediately turned to hand the ball off to DeRozan after receiving the pass from Lowry.
DeRozan curled around Johnson and drew two defenders, including Mason Plumlee - who was guarding Johnson - as he made his way into the paint.
With Alan Anderson still on him and Plumlee helping out, it left Johnson wide open down by the left block. Instead of forcing a contested shot in traffic, DeRozan wisely hooked up Johnson, who finished with an easy slam to tie the game at 113.
The entire play can be watched in its entirety below:
Lopez missed a long two as time expired in the fourth, and the Raptors outscored Brooklyn 14-9 in overtime to keep their winning streak intact.
(Courtesy: TSN)