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Amir Johnson drops 24 in gutsy OT win over Nets

Nathaniel S. Butler / National Basketball Association / Getty

And here it seemed the rivalry between the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors died with the departure of Paul Pierce, Shaun Livingston and the Nets' status as threats in the Eastern Conference.

The battle was as tense as ever on Friday, with the Raptors squeaking out a gutsy 127-122 overtime victory at Barclays Center. The Raptors appeared to be cruising, up as many as 17 at one point, but the Nets refused to lay down and slowly chipped away, ultimately taking a late lead and putting the onus on the Raptors to force overtime.

The Raptors answered the bell, leaning on their veterans to go shot-for-shot with Brooklyn. DeMar DeRozan began hitting insane shots late en route to 26 points and nine assists and Lou Williams dropped 25 off the bench, but the scorers alone weren't enough to make up for 35 points each from Jarrett Jack (along with eight rebounds and 13 assists) and Brook Lopez (12 rebounds and three blocks).

To get them over the hump, the Raptors needed a little grit from a player who hasn't looked quite himself at times this season. Amir Johnson had his best performance of 2014-15, scoring 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting and adding seven rebounds

Most impressively, Johnson picked up his fifth foul with 6:35 to play in regulation but still managed to play 8:13 down the stretch, scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds in that stretch. None of those points were bigger than the two that came with 41 seconds left, as he corralled a ball Mason Plumlee had blocked and quickly layed it in for a 124-122 lead.

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