In a battle between Atlantic division rivals the third seeded Toronto Raptors take on the sixth seeded Brooklyn Nets. During their regular season matchup the two teams split, 2-2. The Raptors are the surprise team of the NBA after posting a record of 48 wins and 34 loses. All-star DeMar DeRozan leads a young and hungry Raptors squad into the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Kyle Lowry has also been a bright spot for this team and is a player who thought he should have been an all-star.
Toronto’s scoring attack is lead by DeRozan who averaged 22.7 points, shot 42% from the field and Lowry, who averaged 17.9 points, shot 42% from the field and averaged 7.4 assists during the regular season. These two dynamic players have played at a high level all season. Both of these players could pose matchup problems for the Nets because of their youth, athleticism and aggression for Deron Williams & Joe Johnson.
Jason Kidd has done a terrific job keeping this veteran team fresh and ready for the playoffs. Brooklyn’s offense is predicated on post ups from their front and backcourt. The Nets are also a team that likes to control the pace and keep the game slow. But against an athletic unit like the Raptors, a team that can get up and down the floor I believe it is going to be a challenge for the Nets to control the tempo. The Nets guards are going to have a hard time trying to post up the Raptors guards because they have size and length to contest their shoots.
The Nets frontcourt is also going to have a problem with the size, length and athleticism of the Raptors. Even though Kevin Garnett has comeback from injury, he and the rest of the Nets frontcourt is going to have a hard time getting rebounds. The Nets are ranked 29th in rebounds averaging 38.1 per game. The Raptors should have the rebounding edge because they ranked 17th and they play with a traditional center in “6’11, 231” Jonas Valanciunas and power forward “6’9, 210” Amir Johnson.
Over the course of the season, the Raptors bench players have improved and have become a strength. Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Tyler Hansbrough have all contributed a lot to this roster. The Raptors have a lot going for themselves but I believe the X factor for the Raptors during this series will be small forward Terrence Ross.
Ross is the third option on this team offensively and he must attack the much older and less athletic Joe Johnson on offense. Ross has to get Johnson in foul trouble and cause him to blank energy. If Ross can win his individual matchup against Johnson I believe the Raptors have a good chance to win this series. The Raptors already know what they’re going to get from DeRozan and Lowry who both averaged 22 points per game on 50% shooting against Brooklyn this season, according to NBA.com.
With all that being said the Raptors should win, right??? Not so fast my friends. The Nets have experience on their side with Pierce and Garnett leading a veteran team against a young squad that does not have a lot of playoff experience. I believe Kidd is going to try to run the offense through Johnson and Pierce. Both players can create their own offense and will have to show up big for the Nets to advance. Also the Nets have the deeper roster and have the edge when it comes to bench players.
The development of Mason Plumlee during the regular season will pay dividends in the playoffs. Plumlee averaged 11.7 points in the last ten games of the regular season. Andray Blatche has the offensive tools and size to pose the Raptors front court problems. Andrei Kirilenko is a solid contributor who is not the player he once was but he is still a lock down defender who can guard DeRozan or Ross and cause them problems because of his size, length and quick hands.
But the most important player coming off of the bench on either team is Marcus Thornton of the Brooklyn Nets. Thornton is a scoring machine who can carry the offensive load for the second team. The last ten games of the season Thornton averaged 14.1 points. Even though the Nets have a solid bench they need their former All-Star point guard Deron Williams to play at a high level.
As I stated earlier, Lowry has outplayed Williams in the four matchups before but, Williams’ playoff experience is going to give him the edge in this series and he is going to show the world he is still an elite point guard in this league.
Kidd is going to have to get more out of his $98 million point guard, who has to play at an MVP caliber level for this team to go deep into the playoffs. I will give the Nets the edge because I believe their playoff experience will be the reason why they will advance and they have one of the greatest closer in NBA history in Paul Pierce.
Prediction: Nets in six
[Photo: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE]Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
