Nets take game 7, series over Raptors

After the Nets lost game 7 in the 1st round to the Bulls last season, many changes were made. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were brought in for their experience and Jason Kidd was hired as the head coach. These moves were made because another 1st round exit was not acceptable for a team that had so much talent. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov wanted a championship, and these moves were made to get closer to that goal. The Nets were not going to accept another 1st round exit, and that was apparent in their resiliency against the Raptors, fighting back from down 3 games to 2 to win the series in 7.

First off what a series this was! In the 11 games these 2 teams played against each other this season, both teams scored 1074 points. It doesn't get any closer than that. The series went the distance with 7 games played, and all of them were close. The Nets took game 7, with a final score of 104-103, which ended with a dramatic stuff by Paul Pierce on Kyle Lowry's potential game winner. After a heartbreaking game 5 loss, which consisted of a 26 point comeback only to lose on Andray Blatche throwing the ball away, the Nets took games 6 and 7 and will now face the Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

With the highest payroll in NBA history, a first round exit would have been considered a failure. They mortgaged the future to bring in Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to go along with a rookie head coach in Jason Kidd. After a miserable start at 10-21, 2014 brought the Nets good fortunes, going 34-17 in 2014. They did all of this without their best player, All-Star Center Brook Lopez, who the Nets lost to a broken foot during an OT loss to the 76ers on December 20th.

As a Nets fan, I was really fired up about this series, which started with the Raptors owner disrespecting not only a team, but a historic and prideful community, when he uttered "F*** Brooklyn" to his team's fans. A Toronto newspaper said that the series was Raptors vs. Dinosaurs, poking fun at the Nets roster consisting of older players like Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. After the Nets took game 1, the New York Daily News' back page the next day said "Don't F*** With B'KLYN!" Then there was the fact that some Raptors fans vandalized the Brooklyn Bridge, writing the Raptors playoff motto "We The North" on it.

Rookie Mason Plumlee, who has been fantastic most of the season, played 21 minutes in the almost miraculous comeback in game 5. The Nets outscored the Raptors by 20 in the 4th quarter of that game with Andray Blatche playing the entire quarter. Plumlee played 39 seconds after the Nets had secured a win in game 6. The Nets also had a new 2-guard for game 6, inserting Alan Anderson and taking out Shaun Livingston. The Nets responded by winning games 6 and 7, with Anderson in the starting lineup and Blatche as the 1st Net off the bench, a spot usually reserved for Plumlee. I would expect to see Blatche off the bench first against the Heat in round 2. Marcus Thornton also started to get more minutes in game 5, and he had arguable the biggest impact on game 7, with 17 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.

Joe Johnson, Thornton, and KG all had phenomenal game 7s. Joe carried the Nets in the 4th quarter, scoring 13 in the quarter and 26 on the game. Thornton had a great game off the bench, hitting 4 3s and scoring 17 points and chipping in 6 boards. KG  had his best game of the series, with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Of course, Paul Pierce sealed the win, after Shaun Livingston, attempting to inbound the ball, threw it into the hands of Terrence Ross, who, as he was falling out of bounds, threw the ball of Paul Pierce's leg, giving the Raptors the ball down 1 with about 6 seconds left. The inbound went to Kyle Lowry, who had his potential game winner blocked by The Truth. The clock hit 0 with the Nets still clinging to that 1 point lead, thanks to Pierce's block.

Going into the 2nd round, the Nets are going to have their hands full with the Miami Heat, the 2-time defending champion Miami Heat. The Nets swept the season series from the Heat, winning all 4 games, but every team is different when it comes to the playoffs. I would expect to see the Nets starting 5 for game 1 to be Deron Williams, Alan Anderson, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. Game 1 is on Tuesday night.