It’s the Nets again, this time in New Jersey. I won’t go over the details of the last game against Vince and the boys - it’s too painful to think about - but we all remember it was a horrific loss, one of the worst in Raptors history.
It’ll also go down as one of the games - along with the Denver Debacle - that got Sam Mitchell fired. Hearing Colangelo say that he “just can’t get the New Jersey game out of my mind” following the coaching change was very telling.
The Raps may have won Wednesday, but they’ve still dropped 7 of their last ten. Meanwhile, the Nets lost Wednesday, but they’ve actually won 7 of 10.
Perhaps not coincidentally, both of those strings started that night in Toronto.
But, the past is the past and we’ll see tonight if the Raptors can avenge that loss, and we’ll see if “The Turnaround” really is in effect.
Devin Harris has been playing out his mind. Honestly, I never thought the guy was this good… but damn. 24.8 ppg on 49% shooting? 6.2 assists? Those are some pretty unbelievable numbers. Vince is putting up his usual 22/5/5, and together they form the highest-scoring backcourt in the NBA.
The Raps, obviously, need a repeat performance by the swingmen from Wednesday if they want to win tonight. If you’ll remember last game, Chris Bosh dominated the Nets up front - they really had no idea what to do with him - but I don’t think that’ll happen tonight, because Lawrence Frank is too smart for that. And he’s got history with shutting Bosh down.
He’ll realize this time out that letting Bosh get his isn’t the way to go, and that the better strategy - played out over these past 10 games - is to double and trap Bosh, and make the wings beat you. I’m certain we’ll see the Nets moving a lot faster on the double tonight.
That should free things up a little for Jermaine O’Neal, perhaps. O’Neal struggled last game, before going down in the third quarter with the knee injury, despite the fact that he was being guarded by rookie Brook Lopez. I’d really like to see Jermaine attack Lopez, especially if the Nets are paying extra attention to Bosh like I expect.
Defensively for the Raptors, I assume Jamario Moon and Jason Kapono will get the starting nods again tonight, and I assume we’ll see Moon guarding Vince and Kapono on Bobby Simmons. Simmons isn’t nearly as big a factor in the Nets offense as Carter, obviously - less than 7 shots a game and more than half of those are from downtown. So that should minimize Kapono’s defensive deficiencies, and if Moon can play with the energy he brought last game, he should be a little more effective at slowing down Vince than Kapono.
Bosh and O’Neal should have an advantage over Yi and Lopez, the real challenge - as always - will be keeping them, and their reserves Josh Boone and Ryan Anderson off the glass. Crafty vets like Bosh and O’Neal should be able to do so. I’d like to see both of them with double-doubles tonight.
Unfortunately, I really don’t really know how Calderon is going to be able to slow down Devin Harris. Harris has shown he can take just about anybody, and Calderon has trouble keeping guys in front of him, so this spells mismatch from start to finish. I just hope Calderon continues his aggressive play from the past couple of games and makes Harris work on the other end.
To be honest, these teams are a pretty cool mismatch on paper - the Nets are strong in the backcourt, the Raps are strong in the frontcourt. The former won game one, which will come out on top in game two?
Not only that, but we all know Lawrence Frank has owned Sam Mitchell for the past two years, so now we get a chance to see if a new coach can make some adjustments in turn. I think this is a great test for Triano; when the teams are evenly matched, the coach can make a big difference. Let’s see if Triano earns his pay tonight!
I have decided that positivity is the way to go, especially in games where the teams appear to be evenly matched. I choose to believe that the win the other night was the start of a good thing, and I believe they’ll continue that - and build on it - tonight in New Jersey.
Raptors by 7.
Tags: Chris Bosh, Devin Harris, New Jersey Nets, Toronto Raptors, Vince Carter
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