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

[MacGill]

Happy about this! Regardless of how it came to be. Our team isn't a post season accident and we've played some very good ball. If we can beat a team of the Nets tenure and experience that will go along way for our core group of guys. We know we need to bring it every night and this will be a physical dirty series!

Bring it on, our team needs this!!

[Sixteen]

They still represent a whole country. Very easy to pick them as your team if you're Canadian.

Do you know what the population of Canada is?

Yes 35 million, more than any city in USA by far. Basketball is gaining popularity in Canada, hard to not pick the raps as your team if you're a resident.

[MrLutareio]

They still represent a whole country. Very easy to pick them as your team if you're Canadian.

Do you know what the population of Canada is?

Yes 35 million, more than any city in USA by far. Basketball is gaining popularity in Canada, hard to not pick the raps as your team if you're a resident.

Trust me very few people outside of Toronto care about the Raptors. I'm from Montreal, second biggest city and virtually nobody cares about the Raps. Just a bunch of Heat bandwagonners

[Bankai]

[Sixteen]

Even if the GTA is the majority supporter of the raps Toronto is still one of the biggest cities in North America. Almost all bigger cities have big fan bases. The fact that it's another country makes them even more unified.

[Sixteen]

Do you know what the population of Canada is?

Yes 35 million, more than any city in USA by far. Basketball is gaining popularity in Canada, hard to not pick the raps as your team if you're a resident.

Trust me very few people outside of Toronto care about the Raptors. I'm from Montreal, second biggest city and virtually nobody cares about the Raps. Just a bunch of Heat bandwagonners

You're probably right, but let's not act like them being the lone team in Canada isn't a factor.

[Berserk_Raptor]

dont test us!

[OrlandoNed]

I have to wonder, how crazy will this board be if this series is actually Raps in 4?

[Sixteen]

I have to wonder, how crazy will this board be if this series is actually Raps in 4?

This thread should go into the hall of fame if that happens.

[Ramako]

I don't think there's some NBA directive to craft a Nets vs. Heat series, but I've watched enough NBA games to know that veterans and star players get all the calls and the upstarts get little respect. I was torn on whether I wanted the Raptors to face the Wizards/Cats or the Nets. I think we match-up much better against the Nets than the Wiz/Cats, but the Nets will get way more calls than any of the Raps, Wiz or Cats would. All Pierce, Garnett et al will have to do is flail their arms for the whistle to blow.

That's aside from the fact that the refs have been calling phantom calls on Lowry all season and swallowing their whistles when either he or Demar get hammered in the paint (though Demar has started to get better treatment recently).

[Kabookalu]

Yes 35 million, more than any city in USA by far. Basketball is gaining popularity in Canada, hard to not pick the raps as your team if you're a resident.

I used to live 4 hours away from Toronto in Windsor and the few basketball fans there were either Pistons or Lakers fans. I know other friends who lived in other provinces were fans of other teams before the Raptors, mainly the Spurs, Mavericks, and Celtics.

Being the only Canadian team is an overblown factor in how much the team is being supported by other Canadians outside of Toronto. Honestly most of Canada sees Toronto as that city that wants to be like America (generalization), they hold little ties with them. If LA got a soccer team that competed over in europe I don't think there'd be fans from New York, Boston, or Philly rallying LA on.

[Courtside]

Can someone please explain this ref thing and the Nets? Why would the refs want to favor Nets? I don't get it.

Major market team vs secondary market, veteran players vs young players, players who have gotten away with calls in the past (ie Garnett's notorious moving screens), and a history of apologies from the league office to the Raptors for botched calls.

Also not just the number of calls, but timing of calls. The number of fouls may work out almost even, but many fans notice how runs are frequently interrupted by a series of questionable calls that let the other team - typically a major market team - get back into the game.

Raptor fans shouldn't know the names of the refs that are prone to this either, but they do.

The paranoia about reffing hasn't magically appeared for no reason at all.

[BlackIce]

Our biggest advantage is that we have nothing to lose really. Young core, all of our future 1st's and cap flexibility. BKN was supposed to win a title this year with Deron, JJ, Pierce, KG and Lopez..

Now they be like;

[Effigy]

Our biggest advantage is that we have nothing to lose really. Young core, all of our future 1st's and cap flexibility. BKN was supposed to win a title this year with Deron, JJ, Pierce, KG and Lopez..

You have more to lose. Everyone from outside doubts your team really belongs there. Most of the 'experts' are going to pick the Nets to upset you guys. You have the pressure of being the favorites and trying to protect home court by winning your first two games.

Let me be clear: I am rooting for the Raptors and I hope they win. But I don't believe they will. Nets in 6.

[snomeister]

Can someone please explain this ref thing and the Nets? Why would the refs want to favor Nets? I don't get it.

As Raps fans, we are conditioned to expect to be screwed by the refs. We lead the NBA in league apologies. We've even lost games solely because of technical issues, not even the refs - I'm looking at you Atlanta timekeeper. Not to mention we've already seen how the refs swallow their whistles when the Nets played the Heat and KG gets away with murder on the court. And the league wants Nets vs Heat, not Raptors. This series could get really ugly.

[BlackIce]

Our biggest advantage is that we have nothing to lose really. Young core, all of our future 1st's and cap flexibility. BKN was supposed to win a title this year with Deron, JJ, Pierce, KG and Lopez..

You have more to lose. Everyone from outside doubts your team really belongs there. Most of the 'experts' are going to pick the Nets to upset you guys. You have the pressure of being the favorites and trying to protect home court by winning your first two games.

Let me be clear: I am rooting for the Raptors and I hope they win. But I don't believe they will. Nets in 6.

If we lose the bias American media will dismiss us and if we win you'll hear more about how the Nets lost the series then the Raptors won. Confirmation bias ftw. Go back and read what these same experts said after the Pierce/KG/Terry to BKN deal. Some had them over MIA, almost all had them in the top 3.

[KingDavid]

Our biggest advantage is that we have nothing to lose really. Young core, all of our future 1st's and cap flexibility. BKN was supposed to win a title this year with Deron, JJ, Pierce, KG and Lopez..

You have more to lose. Everyone from outside doubts your team really belongs there. Most of the 'experts' are going to pick the Nets to upset you guys. You have the pressure of being the favorites and trying to protect home court by winning your first two games.

Let me be clear: I am rooting for the Raptors and I hope they win. But I don't believe they will. Nets in 6.

The Raps have more to lose than the Nets?

The BROOKLYN Nets?

The billionaire owner Mikhail Prokohov's Nets?

The same owner who didn't give a **** about salary caps and basically bought his entire team's Nets?

The same owner who said "we're in win now mode"'s Nets?

The same Nets team that EVERYONE had winning it all's Nets?

The team that has a starting lineup of HOF/Allstars' Nets?

The team that has Deron Williams, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson, Kevin Garnett, Brook Lopez (out), Andrei Kirlenko, Shaun Livingston, and lord knows who else's Nets?



The Raptor's team with NO playoff experience has more to prove than that Brooklyn Nets team. Sounds goddamn legit bro..

[SlowPaced]

Now that the Raptors actually made the Playoffs with home court advantage, Raps in 4 joke is pretty dull.

Nets in 6.

[MaliBrah]

I can't say I've ever seen a fanbase so up in arms about a reffing controversy before the playoff series even begins. God bless the Toronto fans.

we're new to this , just getting it out of our system

[RaptorNews]

Of course the Nets have more to lose

With Lopez/Plumlee/Williams the nets will be be good for a while but they basically have a 1 or 2 year window with this team as constructed