The Raps play their first of four straight home games tonight against our old friends from New Jersey, the Nets. Of course, this isn’t your father’s New Jersey Nets team; in fact, there’s hardly anybody left from the hotly contested playoff series of 18 months ago.
Jason Kidd’s gone, Richard Jefferson’s gone, Nachbar, Collins, Moore, Williams, Krstic, Robinson… The only two left are Josh Boone (who’s hurt) and some ther guy, you may have heard of, named Vince Carter.
They’d added some nice young pieces in Devin Harris and Yi Jianlan, but they’ve filled out the roster with journeymen like Bobby Simmons, Keyon Dooling and Jarvis Hayes. Of course I call them journeymen but in their journeys, if I recall, each of them has had big games against the Raptors in the past…
Anyway, the focus of this New Jersey team is clearly Carter and Harris. Harris has been very impressive, averaging 23 points and 6 assists a night. He’s also averaging 11 free throw attempts per game! That’s, um, kind of insane for a point guard. And given that none of our point guards are exactly defensive stoppers, look for a lot of Harris going to the hole tonight.
As for Carter, well… I have to admit my hatred of the man has dulled to a slow-buring loathing. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still boo till I was hoarse if I were going to the game, but it’s just not the same anymore, now that New Jersey’s, well, kind of crappy.
I’m actually disappointed in the way this New Jersey team has gone into rebuilding mode, because with Carter playing the central villain, things were really lined up for a great rivalry. I blogged about this two years ago - that even though Carter was old news, that the team had moved on, that booing was maybe even immature - that Carter made a great villain, and villains make things interesting, so we should totally continue to boo him and hate him and build this thing up.
Rivalries are great, and of course, being a relatively “new” team, and being the only team in Canada, there aren’t any natural rivals for the Raptors. Two years ago, given that New Jersey had been successful for several years and the Raps were trying to get to their level, given Carter’s presence, given that the two teams are in the same division… it seemed as close to natural as we’d get. Then you get to the great playoff series in 2006-2007, and the rivalry seemed to be on.
When the Raps came out and completely obliterated the Nets in the second game of the regular season last year, I thought, “it’s definitely on, our guys showed it means something, and we got our revenge for the playoffs, let’s see how they respond.”
Well, they responded by trading Kidd, missing the playoffs, and going into full rebuilding mode. Given that they’re not very good right now and not a real playoff threat, and given that Carter’s tenure here is that much further in the past, this rivalry is pretty much dead.
I have to imagine that a lot of other people feel the same, and I have to imagine the booing - while still present - will be toned down a little tonight.
Unless Vince gets going. Then it’ll be back on in all its full-throated glory.
The Raptors should win this game. New Jersey is small, and I don’t see anyone on their roster that can slow down O’Neal or Bosh. Or even Bargnani, should he decide to show up tonight. Of course, Lawrence Frank proved two years ago that he can outcoach Sam Mitchell with a blindfold on, so you can bet he’ll have something cooked up to counter the big line-up, whether it be a zone or soft double or whatever.
I would like to believe that Wednesday’s game was a turning point for the Raps. I would like to believe that, three games in, the three-bigs experiment is a success. I would like to believe Anthony Parker is an offensive threat again. I would like to believe Sam Mitchell smacked some sense into Will Solomon in the past two days.
I would like to believe that the Raptors will win tonight, by 12 points.
(If it sounds like a less-than-confident prediction, it is. That’s how much Sam and Will Solomon have shaken my faith in this team.)
Tags: Chris Bosh, New Jersey Nets, Toronto Raptors, Vince Carter
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