BROOKLYN

In a brief 90-second window of basketball gone wrong, almost everything seemed to be disappearing for the improbable, impossible, unlikely, courageous Raptors.

Kyle Lowry, limping before the game, limping after the game, was rubbing his eyes, trying to see straight. “I couldn’t see,” he said after being gouged and fouled by Deron Williams. After the game, he said: “I can see, barely.”

DeMar DeRozan, who was hot early, cold late, and defensively tougher than he has ever been before, was getting his injured finger treated again, the blood evident and like the game, messy.

And just a few seconds later, Amir Johnson, who has been playing on one leg and one ankle and one huge heart, was prone on the court, with Paul Pierce on top of him, unable to get up without a teammates trouble.

Here were the brave, young Raptors in foul trouble, in injury trouble, in shooting trouble, with a short bench, running out of time and playoff games, finding a most unlikely way to even their Eastern Conference playoff series with the Brooklyn Nets.

In the kind of game we haven’t seen a lot of. In the kind of win that has defined this Dwane Casey team in a way few wins ever have. They won on a night when everything looked lost. They won without having a full team, a healthy team, while disappearing for two quarters offensively and still finding a way.

“That’s our team, man.” said Lowry, who probably wasn’t well enough to play, who came out huge in the first quarter, who had foul trouble and vision trouble, doing what he has done in this breakout season for the point guard and his team. Finding a way to get by. Making a shot when it mattered most. Winning on a night when the story almost certainly seemed to be about courage and drive — and everything Toronto loves about its pro athletes — and still everything added up to defeat.

Except the Raptors didn’t lose. They wouldn’t allow themselves.

Lowry wouldn’t let them. The Raptors defence wouldn’t let them. The Nets inability to score a basket in the final six minutes contributed, but so did some key shots from Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson off the bench, so did Brooklyn’s propensity for offensive fouls and the Raptors getting some calls.

The Raptors ending the night with a playoff series even at two games apiece and with the Nets wondering: What in hell hit them?

“That’s just us, man,” said DeRozan, supplying the easy answer, but not the entire answer. The Raptors have been an NBA doormat, the franchise the league historically cheated and have kicked around for 19 seasons. They have been the team nobody paid attention to. They haven’t been important enough to be an underdog.

And now this: A map across Toronto, maybe across Canada, a footprint growing for the first time since Vince Carter was beloved. This is a Toronto team, maybe the most Toronto of all teams, working hard, struggling, getting knocked to the canvas, still punching, right to the final bell. Finding ways to win with Chuck Hayes and Steve Novak and John Salmons on the court with Landry Fields hurt and Terrence Ross taking up space

“We’re not going to give up until the game is over. We’re going to fight it through,” said DeRozan. In the mostly one-sided Game 3 loss to Brooklyn, the Raptors breathlessly fought back at the end and almost tied the game with 16 seconds to go. That by itself seemed impossible. This would have been impossible had it not occurred. This was a Nikolai Borschevsky like comeback in a series that is now down to best of three, with the Raptors regaining home court advantage.

There have not been a lot of these Toronto stories in recent years. It has been 13 years since the Raptors won a playoff game on the road. The last memorable Leaf moment of playoff consequence was a monumental Game 7 collapse against the Bruins. The Blue Jays haven’t been relevant in a post-season kind of way in more than 20 years.

And now, for today, maybe the rest of this week, maybe longer than that, it’s Raptor time.

It’s time to demand that Lowry gets signed as a free agent. It’s time to make certain that Casey doesn’t walk away after three seasons as coach. It’s time to build around DeRozan, who bombed out in Game 1 of the series and has since accounted for 84 points — a three game average of 28 points. A coming out party of sorts in America for a player strutting his stuff and a team that never gets any kind of American exposure.

A night for DeRozan. A night for Lowry. A night for coach Casey. A victory not even Lowry could see coming considering his somewhat impaired vision.

“We’re definitely resilient, we’re not going to give up until the game’s over. We’re going to fight through,” DeRozan said.

It’s who they are. Right now, it’s all they know.