Many Nets fans are probably happy to be seeing the Toronto Raptors as their team’s opponent in the first round of the NBA playoffs, especially after last year’s embarrassing loss to the Chicago Bulls.
But those fans probably haven’t watched the Raptors play too much this season.
All the Canadians have done this year is set the franchise record for wins and claim their second Atlantic Division title.
And with three out of four match-ups this season being settled with four points or less, the Nets are keenly aware of this first-round opponent.
Coming in to the season, the Nets and Raptors entered at opposite ends of the spectrum: the Nets were supposed to challenge the Heat and Pacers for the East’s crown, while the Raptors were an afterthought.
Now, the Nets will have to take down the team they have been staring up at in the standings all season just to get a shot at the Heat or Pacers.
Through four contests, the two look like evenly matched teams, which, in a best-of-seven playoff series, you would tend to give the edge to the team with home-court advantage: the Raptors.
However, the Nets have something that matters more than home court come playoffs time: veteran leadership. The offseason acquisitions of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Andrei Kirilenko to go along with mainstays Deron Williams and Joe Johnson stack the deck against an inexperienced Raptors squad.
The Raptors’ Demar DeRozen and Kyle Lowry, who may be the best backcourt no one is talking about, have managed to score at will against the Nets this season, but combined they have only have Lowry’s one appearance in the ’08–’09 season. Will they be able to raise their game come playoff time?
How will they react to the first adversity they face? How will Jonas Valanciunas fare against Kevin Garnett? Will they adjust well enough to the Nets superb pick-and-roll defense?
There are just too many questions facing the upstart Raptors and in the end, the Nets’ experience will prove too much for them to handle.
Nets in six.
Tom Lafe is a 6-foot-5 sports-world insider with a middling high school basketball career who believes the Nets will be driven by the success of the team’s big men.
