text: Kris Humphries (l.) and the Brooklyn Nets rebound from a tough loss to the Knicks by beating DeMar DeRozan (r.) and the Raptors in Toronto Wednesday night.
  
  TORONTO — For the first half on Wednesday night, the Nets suffered from a severe, raging Knick hangover. They somehow looked worse than the decimated, slumping Raptors, which is no easy feat. The Nets couldn’t crack the Toronto zone, couldn’t shoot, couldn’t take care of the basketball and couldn’t defend in the paint. They stunk at every facet of basketball and managed to fall behind by 11 points to a bad NBA team missing six guys from its roster. “We didn’t get anything going, couldn’t get stops,” Deron Williams said. “These types of games are dangerous. They got guys happy to see minutes.” Williams lectured his teammates as they headed out for the third quarter trailing by eight, about movement, about screens, about beating the zone. Then, given more space and time, Joe Johnson and C.J. Watson started hitting three-pointers — eight-for-eight between them, in the second half. Before long, the cream rose. Or the dregs settled. Either way, the Nets came back for a key 94-88 victory at the Air Canada Centre that snapped a five-game losing streak and handed Toronto its sixth straight loss. To be fair, the Nets were playing their second game, on back-to-back nights, following a painful loss to the Knicks. They were on the road without their injured starting center, Brook Lopez, while resting Jerry Stackhouse. They appeared dazed, flat and confused, committing 11 turnovers and shooting just 36.1% in the first half. “We had our heads down a little bit,” Avery Johnson said. “Those games (against the Knicks) are not the easiest to come back after. This victory is just as important as last night. Our guys were under immense pressure and I’m glad they responded.” Joe Johnson finished with 23 points and four assists after sleepwalking through the first two quarters. During one tell-tale moment following a timeout, Joe Johnson headed toward the bench when he was supposed to be on the court. “Joe, where you going?” Avery Johnson screamed. Joe Johnson got his act together, as the Nets pulled away in the fourth quarter by 13 points, then as they held on for dear life against a team that had every right to forfeit this one instead of showing up for this game. “It was amazing what a couple of shots do, if you knock down a couple,” Joe Johnson said. “For any scorer, getting an easy basket, getting a couple to fall, you can hit anywhere on the court you want.” Everything is relative in the NBA, and the Raptors are truly more threadbare than the Nets. Toronto was without its own center, Amir Johnson, suspended for one game for throwing his mouthpiece at referee David Jones during a loss in Portland. Johnson’s OCD-like behavior — his insistence on grabbing the basketball after everybody’s free throws — had led to a technical and then the expulsion. With that suspension and injuries to five players — Andrea Bargnani, Alan Anderson, Landry Fields, Linas Kleiza and Kyle Lowry — Toronto needed to scramble just to field the minimum eight active players. The Raptors called up rookie Quincy Acy from the D-League, and he made it to the arena as the team’s ninth man just before tipoff. “It’s definitely a tough situation, but they’re not going to cancel the games,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. The coach had told his reserves, “You want more playing time, you got it.” The Nets have their own injury problems, or at least one big one. Lopez stayed behind again in New York for more rehab work. His absence, in part, allowed the Raptors to score 54 of their 88 points in the paint, plus 10 more from the free throw line. “The threes are what gave us energy,” said Andray Blatche, who has been starting at center instead of Lopez. “It wasn’t pretty at all. It was a dogfight, ugly win.” The Nets were just happy to leave their losing streak behind in Canada, for another team to nurture.
summary: The Nets required a trip to a different country on Wednesday night to find a team that is playing worse basketball. There, in Canada, they unearthed the decimated, slumping Raptors, who put up a decent fight before succumbing to a roster with a few more healthy bodies.