2014 NBA Playoffs: Toronto Raptors (3) vs Brooklyn Nets (6)

[ATLTimekeeper]

I can think of something sadder, and it's complaining about complaining. Better to focus on the basketball game ahead.

[Courtside]

Pierce and Garnett are the only 2 who are outside that range. KG is a 20 MPG player who has been rested all year. He should be more then fresh and has a small workload. Pierce was also rested all year, and also isnt a guy who plays 35+ minutes.

It took Pierce scoring 7 points late in the 4th to get the win in game 1. The guy is a warrior and would probably still come through in the clutch in a game 7 game that was just as close - but he may not be as effective in the other 3 quarters of a game 7 if he has been playing 35mpg all series.

I think its really silly to suggest these guys would be worn out or fatigued from a round 1 series with 1-2 games rest in between each game, and such short travel between destinations.

I never said the travel time was an issue. I quite clearly said that flying itself is the issue and it's because of the altitude changes of taking off and landing. It makes for tired legs, especially if you're on anti inflammatories.


In any case, you understand what I'm saying and you disagree. Fine.

I do find it odd that you're going around 3 different boards and policing every little remark with as much effort as you have been this past week or so.

[Prokorov]

It took Pierce scoring 7 points late in the 4th to get the win in game 1. The guy is a warrior and would probably still come through in the clutch in a game 7 game that was just as close - but he may not be as effective in the other 3 quarters of a game 7 if he has been playing 35mpg all series.

He wasnt effective in the first 3 quarters of game 1. 5 points through 3 quarters and invisible after the first few minutes of the game. Pierce isnt someone asked to do any heavy lifting on this team. just get us some buckets when the going gets tough and the heat is turned up.

there really is also no precident for guys burning out in a round 1 series that come to mind. especially guys who have been babied minutes wise all year. i mean the spurs have been using the same plan with duncan for years now and he seems to just gear up and get better in the post season

[Scarface844]

He wasnt effective in the first 3 quarters of game 1. 5 points through 3 quarters and invisible after the first few minutes of the game. Pierce isnt someone asked to do any heavy lifting on this team. just get us some buckets when the going gets tough and the heat is turned up.

there really is also no precident for guys burning out in a round 1 series that come to mind. especially guys who have been babied minutes wise all year. i mean the spurs have been using the same plan with duncan for years now and he seems to just gear up and get better in the post season

Pierce has been clutch his entire career but I thought he hit a lot of those shots because we didnt do a good job on him defensively like we did in the 1st half. Once he hit that 3 it shifted the momentum and he got confidence. Pierce wasn't very clutch with Boston the final 2-3 years he was with them.

Raptors now know what they have do. Push the ball after a shot that doesn't go in. Whether or not we score in transition, the pace will be quicker and the Nets are gonna be forced to run after every possession. The only time our offense looked good in game 1 was in transition.

This way we can score easier and if we don't have an opportunity to run we can still execute in the half court because the Raptors are a half court oriented team but this way they now have a balanced attack.

[Rockice_24]

Donaghy: Raps are up against Nets, and referees

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/ ... -referees/

They are told what to focus on and what not to focus on. Nowhere do they favor one team over another. They are told to watch hand checking or watch over the backs. Your grasping here. Just watch the game, other than a missed travel the 4th quarter had no calls blatantly missed by the refs.

Not exactly the most credible guy either.

Are the Nets getting away with something that I missed? The fact the the Nets were the more aggressive team and the FT numbers were in favor of TOR up until some late intentional fouls tells me that the game was pretty evenly called. Poorly called but equally poorly called.

This is getting old.

[Prokorov]

Pierce has been clutch his entire career but I thought he hit a lot of those shots because we didnt do a good job on him defensively like we did in the 1st half. Once he hit that 3 it shifted the momentum and he got confidence. Pierce wasn't very clutch with Boston the final 2-3 years he was with them.

I dont know, the fade away jumper off the inbounds pass JV had a hand in his face. you cant defend that much better. and the pivot fade away from the top of the key on patterson is a tough shot to gaurd in general. As far as boston the past 2-3 years he had plenty of huge shots (just ask exculpatory ). and last year he was really asked to carry the load, this year he is just asked to hit shots down the stretch. i think that makes a really big difference

Raptors now know what they have do. Push the ball after a shot that doesn't go in. Whether or not we score in transition, the pace will be quicker and the Nets are gonna be forced to run after every possession. The only time our offense looked good in game 1 was in transition.

This way we can score easier and if we don't have an opportunity to run we can still execute in the half court because the Raptors are a half court oriented team but this way they now have a balanced scoring attack.

I think the raptors would be smart to run, but i dont think they can really force the nets to run at all... the nets walk it up regardless. hell on most odd man fast breaks we end up pulling the ball out. there are certainly lineups we run with like when plumlee and thornton are in. but in most cases its just half court sets.

going small also helps us get back, we dont give up many fast break points unless its a live ball turnover. but either way i agree toronto would be smart to try and force the issue.

I dont think its panic time for toronto. they can do nothing different and win tonite just by limiting our points in the paint. force us to take long jumpers and i think you guys win this one. cant let joe and pierce get in the lane or let plumlee get dunks. cut down the live ball turnovers.

i think the nets could very well be content with a split on the road as well. we have had a tendancy to mail in games on the road especially when there is a built in excuse (i.e. "we were just looking for a split and we got that, now we need to protect home court")

[Scarface844]

I dont know, the fade away jumper off the inbounds pass JV had a hand in his face. you cant defend that much better. and the pivot fade away from the top of the key on patterson is a tough shot to gaurd in general. As far as boston the past 2-3 years he had plenty of huge shots (just ask exculpatory ). and last year he was really asked to carry the load, this year he is just asked to hit shots down the stretch. i think that makes a really big difference

Patterson was no where near close to Pierce on that fade away jumper. He was wide open. Ross in foul trouble hurt us but Ross or whoever guards Pierce and Johnson are going to be much more physical this time around. Hes def hit huge shots the past few years but not like game 1. I thought it was him getting hot and gaining confidence more then anything.

I think the raptors would be smart to run, but i dont think they can really force the nets to run at all... the nets walk it up regardless. hell on most odd man fast breaks we end up pulling the ball out. there are certainly lineups we run with like when plumlee and thornton are in. but in most cases its just half court sets.

going small also helps us get back, we dont give up many fast break points unless its a live ball turnover. but either way i agree toronto would be smart to try and force the issue.

I dont think its panic time for toronto. they can do nothing different and win tonite just by limiting our points in the paint. force us to take long jumpers and i think you guys win this one. cant let joe and pierce get in the lane or let plumlee get dunks. cut down the live ball turnovers.

i think the nets could very well be content with a split on the road as well. we have had a tendancy to mail in games on the road especially when there is a built in excuse (i.e. "we were just looking for a split and we got that, now we need to protect home court")

What I mean by forcing you guys to run is, the pace will be quicker regardless. Raptors are going to run after every brick (or at least I hope so) Nets wont have a choice but to play at a faster pace, you see it time and time again. I thought the turnovers killed us more then anything, i didnt expect to win in game 1, just to much inexperience and to much hype.

Now heres a question for you. If the Raptors win tonight, can they steal a game on the road and if they can would it be game 3, 4 or 6? I picked the Nets in 6 but I think we can steal a game on the road (possibly) and if we can this goes to 7 games.

[Hero]

An inexperienced raptors team is not going to win on the road in the playoffs against one of the best home teams in the nba

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Tapatalk

Do you have a crystal ball to make these predictions? The Raptors won in Brooklyn earlier this year, they can do it again. Especially considering the age of the Nets.

how exactly is age relevant?

Father time is undefeated. I've seen it time and time again with old teams. It's not a stretch to say that one of these old guys is going to have health problems. The Nets are going to have problems with Toronto's youth. If the Raptors gameplan properly they can employ a running game where the old Nets can't keep up. If Casey coaches right then it should be a long series, not some sweep.

[Prokorov]

Patterson was no where near close to Pierce on that fade away jumper. He was wide open. Ross in foul trouble hurt us but Ross or whoever guards Pierce and Johnson are going to be much more physical this time around. Hes def hit huge shots the past few years but not like game 1. I thought it was him getting hot and gaining confidence more then anything.

Val had a hand in pierces face on the inbound fade away. thats a tough shot. and a turnaround fade away like the one he hit on patterson is just a really tough shot to defend. Pierce hit plenty of big shots last year for boston. the OT step back game winner over lebron instantly comes to mind

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUj7ioADCKg[/youtube]


and getting physical with johnson is pierce is kind of what they prefer. the smart move with them is to try and deny them the ball to begin with or hard double on the catch... especially with johnson, thats the best way to defend him. the late doubles on johnson are begging to get burned, the doubles on the catch he is prone to make mistakes.

What I mean by forcing you guys to run is, the pace will be quicker regardless. Raptors are going to run after every brick (or at least I hope so) Nets wont have a choice but to play at a faster pace, you see it time and time again. I thought the turnovers killed us more then anything, i didnt expect to win in game 1, just to much inexperience and to much hype.

It really doesnt force us to play at a faster pace. you get a fast break bucket, we walk it up. its what we have done all year... teams have tried that against us, but we just keep slowing it back down. we can slow it down every possesion by walking it up, but teams can only fast break on misses and live turnovers. its easier to slow it down, especially for an efficenct team that protects the ball and plays small

Now heres a question for you. If the Raptors win tonight, can they steal a game on the road and if they can would it be game 3, 4 or 6? I picked the Nets in 6 but I think we can steal a game on the road (possibly) and if we can this goes to 7 games.

I think the raptors can win on the road for sure. and if they do the series is over, because i dont see us winning another road game.

[Prokorov]

Father time is undefeated. I've seen it time and time again with old teams. It's not a stretch to say that one of these old guys is going to have health problems. The Nets are going to have problems with Toronto's youth. If the Raptors gameplan properly they can employ a running game where the old Nets can't keep up. If Casey coaches right then it should be a long series, not some sweep.

Well for one, the nets arent an old team, they really just have 2 old players. 8 of our 10 core guys are in their prime, as mentioned earlier.

second, father time is not undefeated... not with tim duncan playing like a stud through the finals, and the oldest team in the NBA(miami) winning a championship.

I can almost see that argument if this was the conference finals, and the nets had just played like a grueling 7 game series the round before. but you are talking about round 1 of a playoff series after the nets 2 older players were rested all season long just to make sure they would be fresh for the playoffs.

also, the nets are one of the toughest teams in the league to speed the pace up on. we dont turn it over a ton, we walk up everything, sometimes even live ball turnovers, we play small and dont crash the offensive glass allowing us to get mutliple bodys back defensively on misses, and we have a veteran team that has the composure to not try and go back and forth with a team trying to run up and down the court.

[Rockice_24]

Do you have a crystal ball to make these predictions? The Raptors won in Brooklyn earlier this year, they can do it again. Especially considering the age of the Nets.

how exactly is age relevant?

Father time is undefeated. I've seen it time and time again with old teams. It's not a stretch to say that one of these old guys is going to have health problems. The Nets are going to have problems with Toronto's youth. If the Raptors gameplan properly they can employ a running game where the old Nets can't keep up. If Casey coaches right then it should be a long series, not some sweep.

The Nets two elder players don't play over 40 mpg they are both right around what they can handle. They won't burn them out for one game and the rest between games helps tremendously. The playoffs always operate at a slower pace and it's the teams that execute the best in the half court that win. Unless TOR can force TO's more they won't be able to run. The Nets just don't turn it over much so the running game is already neutralized to an extent.

If Pierce really needs a break there is a guy named AK sitting on the bench waiting so if they have limit his minutes anymore they have a more than capable backup. If Mirza would have just hit a couple of his shots Pierce might have been able to sit a few extra minutes even if he didn't need to.

The Raps advantages of youth and running are less obvious come playoff time when the games slows and there are no back to backs. That's why I picked the Nets in 6.

[Left Side Drive]

Enough trash talk Nets fans. Let's just wait until the game.

[Prokys Nets]

Enough trash talk Nets fans. Let's just wait until the game.

You're kidding right? Most of the trash talk was from the Toronto fans, before the series even began, the same time they were already blaming the refs.

[guess_wh0]

It wasn't the refs, it was the jitters and the turnovers!!

On the plus side, complaining about the refs only helps the Raps. They know they're under a microscope, so they're less likely to favor one team over another.

[isekii]

I'm surprised this thread doesn't have like 40+ pages already. Bunch of raptors fans got real quiet.

[Left Side Drive]

[GooniesNeverDie]

Rob Ford attending the game tonight.. sorry to say but congrats Nets fans on the win

[BK nets BK]

The last game just showed how little most raptor fans know about what they're actually watching. Everywhere I go I see them complaining about the nets not having any fouls in the 4th when d-will got called for an offensive foul which was a pretty big call. Just shows you they try so hard to look for an excuse rather than paying attention to the actual game.



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[ChampionRed]

I'm really excited for this game tonight. I am anxious to see how Toronto responds to that game 1 let down. I don't know why but I love the Toronto crowd in that arena. So much energy! I hope Brooklyn isn't a no-show like Golden State was last night.

[Green Backpack]

Gonna be a good one! I'm expecting a very close battle tonight and a possible Rob Ford streaking incident