The 2013-14 season was highlighted by a ton of franchise records for the Raptors. Forty-eight wins; 22 wins on the road; 16 victories against the Western Conference; and nine season-series sweeps. Plus, the thrill-ride toward the post-season was capped off by their second-ever division championship, the third seed in the East and home-court advantage in round one of the playoffs.
But in spite of all of those accomplishments, head coach Jason Kidd and his battle-tested Nets wanted to face Toronto.
From the flip of the calendar on Jan. 1 until a week ago, Brooklyn was the hottest team in the East and one of the top clubs in the NBA. A month ago, they were putting a ton of pressure on the Raptors in the Atlantic and many believed the boys from the borough would overtake Dwane Casey’s crew for that top spot and a higher conference seed. However, the Nets didn’t plan on Toronto matching their intensity and efficiency and refusing to relinquish the crown.
When the division title was secured by the Raptors, a first-round match-up against the Wizards or Bobcats seemed like the most likely scenario. There was still a shot they’d face Brooklyn but that outcome appeared unlikely given that Toronto had the tiebreaker advantage over the fourth-seeded Bulls. If Toronto simply matched wins with Chicago (which they ultimately did), they’d lock up third. And there seemed to be no way the Nets could slide to sixth; they were too good, too deep and too experienced. And then a funny thing happened.
Following four losses in their final five games—including an obvious tank-job in last night’s finale that included Kidd sitting his entire starting unit and dressing only seven players for what should have been a winnable game against Cleveland—Brooklyn succeeded in sliding to sixth and earning a tilt with Toronto.
“I’ve been in both situations—in Seattle and in Dallas,” said Dwane Casey prior to yesterday’s game in New York, “and every time I’ve seen teams turn it off and try to wish for someone, you get what you wish for.” The coach had been asked about the possibility of the Nets resting players in hopes of landing Toronto in round one.
“You’ve got to be careful with that,” he added. “[But] we’ve just got to worry about ourselves [and] we’ve got to be ready to compete.”
The Raptors will be ready. Coaches were already watching video and preparing scouting reports on Brooklyn immediately following Wednesday’s loss to the Knicks. In the blink of an eye, the 82-game regular season no longer matters. It’s all about game one of the post-season on Saturday at the ACC.
“We haven’t done anything to be honest,” says Raptors president and general manager, Masai Ujiri. “We had a good season [and] we’re happy—we’re not ungrateful—but we haven’t done anything. I wasn’t out there when we hung the [division] banner and I was scouting in Serbia when we clinched [the division]. These things [have] to be part of us now. That’s what we hope going forward; it’s now part of our basketball culture. We aim even higher and we keep trying to grow and build as a team. And I think we grew as a team [this year].”
That growth would reach an even-less-expected level with a series victory over the Nets. Though the second round would likely result in a showdown against Miami, the experience gained for Toronto’s young core would be immeasurable. Even a loss to the two-time champs would be a win. But for the Raptors, that’s a subject for another day. The task at hand is beating a Nets team that not-so-subtlely disrespected them by laying down on the final night of the season.
“If you sit the whole [starting unit] … I think it speaks for itself,” says Raptors forward Steve Novak. “We’re all mad. I think that starting [today] we’ll address all of that. But I think it’s a pretty clear message that we’re who they wanted to play.”
The championship experience of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett will be a storyline in this series. Deron Williams’ all-star pedigree will be a topic too. And the influence the “Brooklyn” name across the chest of the Nets’ jerseys may have on the officials is sure to be discussed as well. But the underlying issue of Toronto, directly or indirectly, not being taken seriously is sure to create a lot of buzz both now and going forward.
“I don’t think our guys like them that much and I don’t think they like us. And that’s the way it should be,” said Ujiri. “We respect all teams in the NBA but we’re not particularly scared of anybody. You’re coming to play [and] we’re coming to play. We’re ready.”