Quickley, Dick get chance to shine in Raptors loss to Brooklyn Nets

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Gradey Dick returned to the Raptors lineup with a bang on Wednesday night in Brooklyn, scorching the net — and, the Nets — but Immanuel Quickley stole the show in a fun Raptors loss.

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Dick took advantage of his rare status as the team’s second scoring option with so many key Raptors out of the lineup and hoisted shots early and often. Quickley was outstanding, but a late surge from former Raptor Dennis Schroder, who moved to the bench once Quickley was acquired from the New York Knicks, helped the Nets pull out the 106-102 victory.

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Quickley had 32 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and nailed a three-pointer to briefly give the Raptors a one-point lead with 49.9 seconds left. But Schroder, who had 21 points and nine assists, responded with a layup while being fouled and hit the free throw, then hit two more later before Quickley cut the lead back to two with a layup with 4.4 seconds left. Schroder sealed it with two more free throws as the Raptors dropped to a franchise-worst 1-15 against the Atlantic Division.

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Dick scored a career-high 24, nailing six of 14 three-point attempts, while Quickley had one more point than his previous high as a Raptor, set three days ago.

Toronto fell just short of a third victory in four games after previously dropping 15 straight, two off the franchise record for futility.

The Raptors lost at home 140-122 a night earlier, the fifth time since early March the team had surrendered at least 135 points to an opponent at Scotiabank Arena.

Besides the regular injury-related absences of Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl and Chris Boucher, Toronto was without RJ Barrett, Kelly Olynyk, Gary Trent Jr. and Bruce Brown, who all rested.

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That meant Quickley started, alongside Dick (just back in the lineup himself), 10-day contract signee Malik Williams, veteran Garrett Temple and Ochai Agbaji.

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Brooklyn was also minus plenty of regulars, but still had a lot more of its top players than Toronto did.

Neither team was able to get any separation in a closely played first half. Toronto’s biggest lead was five, Brooklyn’s just two. Toronto led 54-53 at halftime and by three after three quarters.

Toronto finishes the season with two games in Miami this weekend. Locker clean-outs and assorted media availabilities will follow with the next big moment for the franchise coming on May 12, when the NBA holds its draft lottery and the team will find out if it is keeping its first-round pick or sending it to the San Antonio Spurs.

The loss means Toronto will most likely have the sixth-best lottery odds unless the Raptors win the final two games and Memphis loses its last two. In that case it will be a coin flip between the two to see who gets the sixth best odds and who gets the seventh best.

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