Skip to content

How Raptors vs. Nets is shaping up as a classic

John Sokolowski / USA TODAY Sports

Two games into their Eastern Conference quarterfinal, the Raptors and Nets appear to be settling in for a slug fest of a series between two teams and organizations that don't appear to like each other very much. It's the stuff playoff classics are made out of.

Newspapers in Toronto and Brooklyn have already traded tabloid headline gold, Raptors General Manager Masai Ujiri yelled "F**k Brooklyn!" to a swarm of rowdy Raps fans before Game 1, Jason Kidd pretended not to even know who Toronto's General Manager was after Game 1, Drake and Kevin Garnett exchanged mid-game trash talk in Game 2 like a modern day Spike vs. Reggie, and Garnett's postgame comments seemed to contain a low lying message about his thoughts on the Raptors after the Nets gave up 36 fourth quarter points to Toronto:

"36 points. That's too many points, for anybody. Preschool, little league, YMCA, Raptors...too many points."

About going back to Brooklyn for Games 3 and 4, Garnett later added:

"It's going to be a rowdy environment, like it should be. I don't know if you can say 'F-Brooklyn' and then come into Brooklyn. So we 'bout to see what it's like."

Through two games, this series has basically become the exact opposite of teams not wanting to give each other bulletin board material, and it's fantastic for fans and media alike tired of the usual, emotionless postgame cliches.

From a basketball perspective, both games have been decided by seven points or less, and over the course of 96 total minutes the teams are separated by just two points.

After Brooklyn's funky lineup wreaked havoc for the Raptors on Saturday - The small look of having Paul Pierce at the four was tough on Amir Johnson and bigger guards and forwards like Shaun Livingston and Joe Johnson gave DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross fits - Dwane Casey and the Raps adjusted nicely by working Landry Fields into the mix on Tuesday. It paid off immediately, with Fields making numerous defensive plays on Johnson and Pierce.

The Raptors also found a way to get DeRozan a bit more space in Game 2 (DeMar also helped himself by being more decisive with the ball in his hands), and while the 24-year-old still struggled shooting the ball through three quarters, he closed out Thursday's contest by scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter on 4-of-5 shooting and 9-of-11 free throw shooting, including six straight free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

The Nets will now have to make some adjustments of their own and will need to find an answer for Toronto's three-man bigs rotation of Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas and Patrick Patterson. Specifically, they'll need to find a way to limit the Raptors' dominance on the glass. Given Brooklyn's small lineup that features just one traditional big, everyone knew that the Raptors would have the rebounding edge, but a 97-67 advantage through two games, including a 52-30 advantage in Game 2, is a deficit the Nets are going to have to cut into.

Other on-court issues to keep an eye on include Toronto's turnovers (the Raptors have turned the ball over 37 times compared to just 18 Nets turnovers), the play of Pierce and Garnett (Other than Pierce's last few minutes in Game 1, both have been sub par) and the three-point shooting on both sides, as after both teams finished in the top-11 in three-point percentage during the regular season, they've combined to shoot just 21-of-87 from deep through two playoff games. One, if not both, will start connecting on those threes soon enough, adding even more excitement to a series that is already living up to the billing.

Based on the four regular season meetings - three of which were decided by four points or less - and now two tight playoff contests, Raptors vs. Nets looks like it's shaping up to be a long, competitive series. Throw in daily media jabs from both teams, Drake, rabid Raptors fans and potentially slighted Brooklynites, and this series has 'instant classic' written all over it.

How many people envisioned writing that about a first round Eastern Conference series a few months ago?

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox