When: 7:30 PM EST; Wednesday, April 30th, 2014
Where: Air Canada Centre; Toronto, ON, CA
TV: My9/NBATV
After brutal fourth quarter performances in Games 3 and 4 at home, the Nets now find themselves tied up at 2 with the Toronto Raptors with a Game 5 at the raucous Air Canada Centre coming up tonight. Brooklyn wrested home-court advantage away from the Raptors with their Game 1 win but lost it on Sunday night with their bad finish in Game 4.
The Nets had their chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead in Sunday’s game but blew it by going the last 4:58 of regulation without scoring a single point. Brooklyn has been prone to long, debilitating scoring droughts from time to time, and in Game 4, another one of them reared its ugly head, causing the Nets to lose a pivotal game in this series.
They’ll have to step their game back up to an acceptable level tonight if they want to avoid having to fight for their playoff lives in a potentially-clinching Game 6, which would take place back at Barclays on Friday night. On the other hand, if the Nets can put a solid 48 minutes together for the first time since Game 1, they could push Toronto up into a wall and possibly clinch in two days. Just depends on how this team responds to its poor play as of late.
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
After forcing around 20 turnovers in each of the series’ first three games, the Nets only made the Raptors commit 12 on Sunday. Getting the young Toronto team to make those miscues has been crucial for Brooklyn, which needs to play that hounding defense again tonight. Also, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson–Brooklyn’s Backcourt–need to score more than 17 points and shoot better than 6-for-19 in Game 5, as their combined awful offensive play really hurt the Nets in Game 4.
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