The Miami Heat's depth was on display when James Jones made the most of his minutes off the bench in Game 1. We all knew James Jones could shoot. We just didn't expect to see it in round one of the playoffs. This afternoon, Miami HEAT coach Erik Spoelstra unveiled his predicted starters but he also raised questions with his bench choices. There, next to Chris Andersen , Norris Cole and Ray Allen sat...
Two shot-clock debacles would be inexcusable, so it's a good thing the Toronto Raptors are getting theirs in order. Midway through the third quarter of their first playoff game since 2008, the team's shot clocks stopped working. Attempts to install backups were unsuccessful, so unforeseen obstacles were incurred by all. According to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star (h/t Brett Pollakoff of Pro Basketball...
Andrei Kirilenko , also known as "plan A " when he was acquired by the Nets this offseason for the mini-midlevel exception, didn't get off to a great start in his first postseason game with Brooklyn. By a poor start, he didn't get in. Kirilenko was glued to the bench in the Nets 94-87 game one win over the Raptors in Toronto which led to him saying he was "a little bit surprised" about not playing....
Drake, the Raptors' rapper, is an adviser to his hometown team. He didn't put down any money to buy a piece of the team or arena like his Brooklyn counterpart did, didn't compose a song about his hometown that became the city's anthem and certainly didn't bring a world-famous wife to games. But hey, he's a kid. He might accomplish one of those things. Saturday, he took to the airwaves, sitting aside...
DeMar DeRozan and the Raptors had been waiting for their first playoff game for years. Then, it went terribly. TORONTO -- Two days before the first playoff game of his life, DeMar DeRozan was already tired of talking about experience. The Toronto Raptors swingman had been looking forward to this for years, forcing himself to watch postseason basketball on TV when he'd rather not. He wanted this stage,...
The Raps get nothing from 60% of their starters, and Paul Pierce is huge down the stretch for Brooklyn. There goes home-court advantage. The sun shone bright on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Toronto. The fans, both inside and outside of the ACC, were raucous -- as was Masai Ujiri. Playoff basketball had returned to the city for the first time in 6 years; an occasion well-worth celebrating. Unfortunately,...
By now the whole world is aware of Toronto Raptors GM Masai Ujiri's not-to-kid-friendly shot at Brooklyn , when he proclaimed his disdain for the borough prior to Saturday's Game 1 matchup, saying "F--- Brooklyn!" It seems like only a matter of time before NBA commissioner Adam Silver weighs in and responds to Ujiri, likely slapping him with a fine, but until then, we'll have to settle for a...
Masai Ujiri ended a pre-game rally appearance with a "F--k Brooklyn!" Apparently, Brooklyn and neighboring boroughs took some offense. A day ago, the playoff series between the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets didn't appear to be high on the list of NBA playoff series in terms of entertainment value. Then Masai Ujiri happened. The first-year Raptors general manager was caught on video rallying the...
Paul Pierce was wired in Saturday's Game 1 vs. the Raptors ... and we are lucky for it. After hitting the dagger in the closing minutes, Pierce can be clearly heard voicing his excitement. "That's why they got me here. That's why I'm here. I want the ball." Indeed. ...
The Raptors played their first playoff game since 2008, but it was their general manager Masai Ujiri that stole the headlines. On Tuesday afternoon the Raptors played what was their first playoff game in six years. On the court, the inexperienced Raptors lost in somewhat predictable fashion . It was off the court, however where some unexpected intrigue emerged. Needless to say, excitement inside the...
The Nets began this best of seven series, Saturday afternoon against the Toronto Raptors. The Nets won 94-87, in a tightly contested battle the entire way. Hello, playoffs! The regular season is in the books and the Nets are ready to start their expedition to a championship for the second straight year. Through all the agony and doubt in the early season due to poor play, to the rejuvenation...
The Nets' star-studded lineup did what it was put together to do and took a 1-0 series lead. The Brooklyn Nets got huge performances from their veterans and took a 1-0 series lead over the Toronto Raptors Saturday afternoon with a 94-87 win. Paul Pierce was massive down the stretch, scoring nine points and keeping the Raptors' comeback attempts at arm's length. He finished with 15 points, Joe Johnson...
The Toronto Raptors couldn't get their offense going this afternoon and dropped a 94 to 87 decision to the Brooklyn Nets in game one of their playoff series. Game 1 is officially in the books. The bad news, for fans of the Toronto Raptors at least, is that their team's first playoff action in six years resulted in a loss at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets . The good news is that we can finally stop...
RaptorsHQ chats with NetsDaily.com regarding the Nets vs Raptors first-round playoff series... The Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets get their first-round playoff series started at 12:30 EST today and what better way to preview the action then to have an installment of "Blogging With The Enemy?" To that end, we chat with Tom Lorenzo of NetsDaily.com, SB Nation's Brooklyn Nets' super-site, regarding...
Adam Francis of Raptors HQ answered five questions and gave his prediction for the Nets-Raptors series. Follow Adam on Twitter for great Raptors-related insight to the series. 1.) We're hearing a lot about experience vs. youth in this series. Are you concerned at all about the lack of playoff experience on the Raptors roster or do you think that it's being overblown? I think the experience piece is...
The NBA playoffs tip off with Toronto and Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Nets could have clinched the No. 5 seed on the last day of the regular season. Instead, Jason Kidd trotted out a starting lineup of Jorge Gutierrez , Marcus Thornton , Marquis Teague , Andray Blatche and Jason Collins. That team was walloped by the Cavaliers and the Nets were knocked back to No. 6 where they could play the Raptors at...
The crowd in downtown T-Dot is insane right now. There are 5.5 million people in Toronto and a heck of a lot more in Ontario. We're not saying all of them are in the streets, but holy smokes are there a lot of people. It's the first time the Raptors have been in the playoffs since 2008, and it's been even longer since they had home court advantage. There's no city in the NBA that can give their team...
The Toronto Raptors fans are certainly pumped up for their Game 1 playoff matchup with the Brooklyn Nets . How pumped? Well, they had a loud and certainly proud pre-game attendance hours before the start of the game. They also got some pumpin' up from the team's GM Masai Ujiri, who is among one of the young, bright General Managers in the NBA. However... Ujiri got a little too pumped up by shouting "F**k Brooklyn!" to get the crowd hyped. (Note: Naturally, language is NSFW) Does he not own a smartphone? Is he not aware that EVERYTHING we do these days is recorded, photographed and shared on the Internet? Or, does he just not care? Oh well. It's all in good fun, right? Masai Ujiri shouts "F*** BROOKLYN!" before Raptors-Nets - Seth Rosenthal - SB Nation
Score at the half: Nets 50, Raptors 46. Deron Williams leads all scorers with 18 points. For more on the Toronto Raptors , check them out at Raptors HQ . Nets at Raptors boxscore - NBA.com NBA Playoffs Game One Thread: Brooklyn Nets at Toronto Raptors, 12:30 PM - NetsDaily ...
The Toronto Raptors are one of the 2013-14 regular season's most surprising playoff teams. In early December, they traded their best player, Rudy Gay, and almost immediately turned around five straight years of losing. They're stock piled with emerging talent, and they ended the year as one of just four teams to have a top-10 offense and a top-10 defense—the other three were the Los Angeles...