The Nets gave their fans a disappointing season, but they gave them a come-from-behind 106-102 rally over Toronto in the home finale.
Brooklyn stormed back in front of 17,732 at Barclays Center, a seventh straight sellout Wednesday night.
And the Nets did it with a strong fourth quarter, led by Dennis Schroder, Nic Claxton and rookie Noah Clowney.
Schroder had 15 of his 21 in the final period, when the Nets outscored Toronto 29-22.
Brooklyn blocked 15 shots — its most ever at Barclays Center and tied for its most since 2012. Clowney had seven and Claxton five.
“We just wanted to get the last dub. Last home game, we want to give it all out there,” said Schroder, who also had nine assists and seven rebounds. “And I mean, at the end [the crowd] was carrying us as well and yeah, we got out with the win.”
In the fourth quarter, Schroder had 15 points, five rebounds and was a plus-9— all game-highs.
But it was the defense that won it, holding the decimated Raptors to 31.8 percent shooting in that final period.
Clowney became just the 12th teenager in NBA history to block seven or more shots in a game — and was the lowest drafted player to do it.
“They kept trying to lay the ball up and I kept blocking it. There ain’t much else to it,” Clowney said.
After turning the ball over to Garrett Temple, he chased the ex-Net down and blocked his layup attempt. “I didn’t want to turn the ball over to begin with, but when I did, I know it was one of the moments like, ‘Nah, I can’t let them have this one.’ And I’m thankful my teammates ran back and got the rebound.Because if they would’ve scored off that rebound, it still would have been my fault turning the ball over. So yeah it was just one of them ones I had to go get it.”
Immanuel Quickley’s 3 put the Nets down 100-99, but Schroder’s and-one put Brooklyn back up.
Temple had the ball under the basket, but Schroder stole it from him and called a timeout amid a scramble with 21.6 seconds left.
Clowney lost the ball to Temple but tracked him down and blocked it for his seventh of the game. Schroder iced it.
“Definitely solid defensively,” Claxton said. “Definitely something we can build off of in the future. both of us covering up for everybody’s mistakes on the defensive side. It’s a lot of length and it’s pretty effective.”
Mikal Bridges did not play in the fourth, but Kevin Ollie said he was healthy and it was just a gameplay decision.
Bridges added there was minutes management.
