The bottom half of the Eastern conference playoff race right now is wild – it’s a scenario that epitomizes why we watch NBA basketball in early April to begin with. Five teams are within 2.5 games of each other and are interchangeable between the 7th – 11th seed. Do you want to know what the best part of it all is? The Raptors are just as heavily involved, they have a front-row seat to the show.
Six of the Raptors’ last 7 games are against teams in this playoff race, with the 7th game coming against 13th place Orlando who is officially eliminated.
In whatever case and whatever record the Raptors muster-up here in this final stretch, they will have a direct hand in deciding the outcome of who squeezes into the playoffs and who doesn’t.
Tonight, the Raptors head into Brooklyn to face the red-hot Nets.
What you need to know about the Brooklyn Nets..
While it’s true that the Raptors are still playing for something – home-court and respect as Dwane Casey put it – the Nets are playing for absolutely everything, and it shows.
This is not the same Brooklyn Nets team that was seemingly doing everything possible to miss the playoffs earlier this season. The days of incoherent defense and blown lay-ups seem to be behind them now. The Nets have reeled off five straight wins and are getting vintage performances from Deron Williams and Brook Lopez.
Especially the latter.
Lopez is coming off Eastern Conference POW honours – a stretch which saw him post 28.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.25 blocks all while shooting 57.8% from the floor.
Matchups..
Frontcourt: Amir Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas vs Thaddeus Young, Brook Lopez. Edge: Tie.
I almost gave this edge to the Nets. You typically wouldn’t think the Nets have any advantage over the Raptors, but if they do, it’s under the basket. Lopez is playing out of his mind right now and Thaddeus Young is also healthy and playing well. Would I be surprised if Amir and Jonas step up and out play these guys? Of course not. Valanciunas has a knack of stepping up when he’s the underdog (see Hibbert, Chandler), and Amir usually matches up well with quick power forwards.
Backcourt: Greivis Vasquez, DeMar DeRozan, Terrence Ross vs Deron Williams, Markel Brown, Joe Johnson. Edge: Tie.
Another tie? Ugh, this is starting to look like a nightmare first-round match-up scenario. But it’s only because Kyle Lowry – who normally gives Williams fits – is out. Williams is playing really good ball right now, so his crossovers are probably going to shake Greivis up at least once tonight. DeRozan’s all-star form is evened out by Joe Johnson’s notoriety for being a Raptor killer. Hopefully James Johnson – aka ‘the real JJ’ – will get plenty of minutes on Joe.
One clear advantage the Raptors have is off the bench. Brooklyn’s second unit ranks 20th in the league in scoring, while the Raptors are up at 6th. The Raptors will especially take advantage here if they continue their balanced scoring from Wednesday’s win over the Wolves.
Tip-off is at 7:30 pm EST.
