When: 12:30 PM EST; Saturday, April 19th, 2014
Where: Air Canada Centre; Toronto, ON, CA
TV: ESPN/YES Network
Here we finally are, the NBA Playoffs. The Brooklyn Nets are back in the postseason just one year after a 1st round, seven-game elimination to the Chicago Bulls that was about as gut-wrenching as possible. Chicago won Game 7 in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, knocking the Nets out on their home floor in a truly debilitating fashion.
However, Brooklyn reloaded this summer and during this season, adding pieces such as Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Shaun Livingston, Marcus Thornton, and others in an attempt to make them a more well-rounded team that is better suited for postseason play. Injuries, mainly a season-ending broken foot to center Brook Lopez, have hamstrung the Nets throughout the year and have prevented them from really being able to play as a cohesive unit for extended periods of time.
Due to this, Jason Kidd has had to constantly mix-and-match his lineups, which hasn’t allowed a ton of continuity to set in amongst his players, many of whom haven’t played many minutes with each other. Now, though, other than Lopez, obviously, Brooklyn’s main contributors–lastly with the recent return of Kevin Garnett–are all healthy and ready to go for the postseason, which is incredibly important considering the Nets’ opponents’ versatility and athleticism.
Dwane Casey’s Raptors, after a stellar 48-34 regular season, surprised many around the NBA with their impressive 2013-14 campaign, one marked by a blockbuster trade with the Sacramento Kings that sent Rudy Gay, Aaron Gray, and Quincy Acy to California for Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson, Chuck Hayes, and John Salmons. That deal got rid of a major ball-stopper in the Toronto offense in Gay and brought back a bunch of useful role players who only contribute to the varied offensive and defensive attack Toronto employs.
Role players and glue guys are nice, but the Raptors also have some burgeoning stars who have caused the Nets trouble this season and probably will continue to do so this series. Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Jonas Valanciunas are all under the age of 30 and provide some real matchup issues for the older and less-mobile Nets.
Lowry and DeRozan can get hot quickly from the perimeter but are also explosive and fast enough to drive into the paint to get baskets while Valanciunas clogs up the key to score a lot of layups and dunks and grab a lot of offensive and defensive rebounds–he scored 20 and collected 13 boards in a January 27th win over Brooklyn. Valanciunas will be a lot to handle for Kevin Garnett, Andray Blatche, and Mason Plumlee around the hoop.
Complementary guys such as Amir Johnson, Terrence Ross, Patrick Patterson, Greivis Vasquez, Tyler Hansborough and others round out a Toronto lineup that is certainly top-heavy, and doesn’t have the type of reserve scoring ability the Nets do. There are no players like Marcus Thornton, Alan Anderson, or Andray Blatche coming off Dwane Casey’s bench.
Probable Lineups
BKN- Deron Williams (PG), Shaun Livingston (SG), Joe Johnson (SF), Paul Pierce (PF), Kevin Garnett (C)
TOR- Kyle Lowry (PG), DeMar DeRozan (SG), Terrence Ross (SF), Amir Johnson (PF), Jonas Valanciunas (C)
Final Thoughts
The Nets only went 2-2 against the Raptors this season, which is by no means a dominating record, but their playoff experience, extreme depth, and overall talent should be enough to get them by Toronto this series. Granted, Brooklyn doesn’t have homecourt advantage but does have rest, which is aplenty in the playoffs and hard-to-find in the regular season. In order to swing momentum in their favor right away, the Nets need to take care of business in Game 1 and immediately put the Raptors back on their heels, and Brooklyn should be able to do it.
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