On Monday, Long Island continued to try and fill the void left by Danny Wolf who has been crushing it up there. Despite a valiant effort, Nolan Traore and the Long Island squad couldn’t pull off a late game comeback as they once again fell to the undefeated Toronto Raptors 905, 120-113.

Not to be outdone by his fellow rookies in Brooklyn, Traore shot the ball quite well, finishing the game by connecting on seven of his 16 shot attempts, including making two of his six attempts from beyond the arc. Traore’s 18 points were second on the team, second only to Nate Williams game-high 30. Indeed, in recent games, the 6’5” 19-year-old point guard has shown a lot of positives when it comes to shooting the ball, including taking smarter shots.

Traore also picked up two rebounds and five assists. His ability to get his teammates involved is another big positive of his. Night in and night out, he’s finishing near the top in the assist column. He’s also been becoming a bit of a ball hawk, finishing with one steal Monday. However, not everything is a positive.

Something Traore still struggles mightily with is his turnovers. Following his six-turnover performance on Saturday, Traore once again had the most turnovers on the team with five, and it wasn’t particularly close, as the closest number to him was two turnovers. Of course, these are very typical numbers for rookie PGs, so fans shouldn’t fret that much.

Williams, who’s often Traore’s back court mate in Long Island, led the team in scoring with 30 points. This was the second time Williams scored 30 points in his G League career, and marked his season-high. This is also something that has become very common for Williams. Every game, he’s finishing at the top, or near the top of scorers for Long Island. The 6’5” 26-year-old shot the ball very well in this one, connecting on 12 of his 20 field goals, including going 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. For the season, the Sag Harbor, Long Island native is averaging 17.9 points on 42/32/77 shooting.

Williams also picked up six rebounds and two assists. Williams’ six rebounds were second on the team to Malachi Smith, who had seven. This is where Wolf would come in handy for Long Island, as he was a walking double-double, picking up 17 rebounds in one of his final outings. However, players like Williams have been trying to mitigate that defic…

After the game, ND got to speak with Nate Williams on the game, his performance:

“I just was so locked in that I was just trying to get the win,” Williams told ND about his performance. “That’s all I was focused on. Even when we were down 20 points, I was just trying to stay positive with the guys and keep everyone together. Me and Tre Scott just try to hold the team together. Just tell them to keep chipping away, one possession at a time. I didn’t really care about the stats or how many points I had. I was just trying to win this game, honestly.”

With his performance tonight, Williams has become the only G Leaguer averaging at least two offensive rebounds, two steals, and two 3-pointers made per game. When asked what it means to him, Williams told ND that he “puts a lot of work in behind the scenes.”

“I work extremely hard on my game,” Williams said. “I take pride in my game. I have confidence. I’m going to shoot the ball. I’m going to play defense, and I’m going to try my hardest to help the team win. That’s just how I approach the game. I try to do whatever it is that the team needs me to do to win.”

Williams dismissed the notion that he’s working toward getting the Nets third and last two-way contract.

“That’s not a goal of mine, honestly” he told ND. “This is where my feet is. Where I am right now is where I am. I’m accepting of that and I’m just trying to dominate here and get comfortable here and if I get called up, so be it, but I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about his team, the Long Island Nets, that’s where I am right now.”

Trevon Scott, the 6’8” 26-year-old big, continued to impress in his starting role, finishing with 17 points. He connected on six of his 12 shots, including hitting three of his five shots from deep. With his three 3-pointers, he has now made at least three 3-pointers in five consecutive games, which marks the longest of his career. He also had three assists and two rebounds.

Yuri Collins finished with 11 points, connecting on four of his eight shot attempts, including hitting one of his five attempts from beyond the arc. The 6’0” 24-year-old Collins also finished with one rebound and a whopping eight assists. Collins scored or assisted on 16 of Long Island’s first 20 points, so his hands were all over the game in the first quarter. This was a historic night for Collins as he has now dished out at least four assists in the 56 consecutive games. This is tied for the fifth-longest streak in NBA G League history.

There’s a reason that Collins is known as the G League’s best playmaker. It’s hard to argue with stats like that. After the game, Collins spoke with ND on his performance…

“Our group that was out there did really good job,” Collins tells ND on tonight’s loss. “We got down early in the third, by a bunch, but it just shows our resilience, what our group did out there in the fourth quarter. Really locked in.”

“I didn’t even know that,” Collins explains to ND when told about his historic performance. “I don’t keep up with stuff like that. I tell people all the time, my accolades, my records, and stuff, won’t really hit me until I’m done playing basketball, and I can look back and see all the things I accomplished. But right now I’m just trying to win games. I have personal goals of getting to the next level. It’s good to hear and know what I’m doing, but it won’t really all sink in until I’m done and I can look back and see things that I did. Right now, I just want more.”

The Nets’ bench looked good in this one as 6’3” 25-year-old shooting guard Hunter Cattoor was a pivotal reason the game was as close as it was, and the 20-point deficit disappeared. Cattoor finished with 12 points, connecting on four of his six shots, all from deep. This was a career-best for Cattoor.

Long Island started strong, making their first five made field goals off assists, giving the Nets an 8-0 run from 8:59 to 7:40 in the first. The Nets capped off the quarter with a buzzer-beating triple from D’Andre Davis as Long Island shot 50% (5-for-10) from beyond the arc in the opening frame to take a 27-23 lead. After forcing the 905 into 11 first-half turnovers, Long Island went into the break down by a single possession, 58-55. The Nets limited the 905 to just 11 assists before halftime, the fewest by Raptors 905 in a single first half this season.

Long Island’s defense held the 905 without a made field goal for a stretch of over four minutes late in the third following a 24-9 run by Raptors 905, but the Nets trailed by 17 entering the final quarter, 88-71. The Nets went on a 19-4 run from 11:16 to 7:42 in the fourth to close the gap as Williams led all scorers with 13 points in the final frame. A mid-range jumper from Traore tied the game at 104, but the 905 closed the game on a 14-5 run to earn a 120-113 win. Long Island’s 113 points mark the second-most scored by any team against Raptors 905 this season.

Overall, development remains at an all-time high on Long Island, with only one of the Flatbush 5, Egor Demin, not making the trek to Nassau Coliseum. Traore as the No. 19 pick and the sixth youngest player in the league has to be seen as among the highest-ceiling members of the roster. As his shot and passing game improves, Traore needs to fix his turnover issue, and if and when he can Brooklyn fans have more to be excited about.

The Long Island Nets (3-6) return to the court on Friday, December 5th, as they travel to Delaware for a showdown with the Delaware Blue Coats. The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. ET and can be watched on the NBA G League and Long Island Nets’ respective websites, as well as on the Delmarva Sports Network for those local to the Blue Coats.