To be fair, I only caught the game from about 2 minutes into the 2nd, but I imagine it played out like the rest of the game did. Hopefully the Nets put me out of my misery quick and not let this series drag on. You know me, I give credit where it is due, and Ves picked the Nets in 5 when we all were slave to the Raptors bandwagon. I picked the Raptors in 7 for both the pools I entered. I talked myself into thinking the Raptors would continue to play the same way as the regular season, and keep the Nets on their toes. I never thought this would deteriorate into a grind of a series (although the Nets lit the Raps up tonight). So on with my game analysis:

2nd Quarter (2 minutes into it):
I rushed home from work, and turned the game on to what I had suspected all along: Vince Carter was going to come out of his shell, and straight up dominate. Dude was just unconcious - either nailing big jumpers, or dropping precision dimes. It was a beautiful thing to watch, I’ll be honest. Calderon was playing well too. Triple threat from the high pick and roll. He played it out to perfection (penetrating, dishing and shooting very well). For some reason, an all too familiar one this series, they stopped with this line of attack. It didn’t appear Jersey made any adjustments, the Raptors just seemed to not be interested in getting going with what worked. The Raptors got within 8 points of Jersey, at which point the Nets went on a tear to widen the lead to 19 or so. Kidd finished the 2nd playing at a very high level of basketball. He put on a clinic (more about later further down).

3rd Quarter:
Nesterovic was shooting really nice at the start of the second. Why doesn’t he get more minutes? He has done a good job against the Nets this season (rebounding, defense and scoring), but can’t seem to stay on the floor for any extended period of time. TJ was all over the offensive end. Pressuring the Nets defense with dribble drive penetration and nice shooting from 18. The Raptors came out of the half committed to defense. They made some stops, and put a lot of pressure on Jerseys offense, and started to set a tone. Then it all stopped, un-surprisingly. Bosh did not assert himself at all, and was almost invisible out on the court. Had it not been for a couple rebounds, I would have forgotten that he was even on the court. Parker picked up 4 fouls in the 4rd. I couldn’t believe it, but to Carters credit, he was a more than a handful. Another game has gone by, and there was NO ball movement in the offensive zone. One pass - pass. Unacceptable at this point of the season, throughout the whole game. Carte and Kidd were masterful in the 3rd. Kidd hit some big 3s. It is so funny, but his 3s are always so timely. Throughout his career, he has hit the right shots at the right time. I guess the great ones do that. Bosh wouldn’t know anything about that. He played like crap again. He was passive the whole game, and the moment he chose to make his move, he disrupted the only display of ball movement the Raptors showed all game. He ended up stepping out of bound on the baseline. Had it not been for Fords great play, this game would have got out of hand in the 3rd.

4th Quarter:
For the first time this whole series, Mitchell started the 4th with BOTH Ford and Calderon on at the same time. I was surprised, but with Kidd on the bench, it was a good opportunity to get out and run a bit. I didn’t like Calderon covering Nachbar at this point, but you have to live with some sort of mismatch with this lineup on the floor. Bargnani hits a trey with 1040 remaining to bring the Raptors to within 8. While the Raptors were making this mini rum, Mitchell decided it was time to shake up the chemistry, and bring in Parker. Normally I like this move regardless. At this moment…not so much. Parker replaced Ford, who didn’t return until the 537 left int eh 4th (the Raptors got outscored by 9 points during the 5 minute stretch btw). I wouldn’t say that this was the decision that cost the Raptors the game, but they were making a mini run, and had that squashed. Calderon was almost invisible during this 5 minute stretch, and the Raptors got no production from the point. Bargnani seems to be getting more of Humphries minutes, without putting up the same quality of minutes and production. I don’t know why. Peterson got hit with an intentional foul…bullshit call, but I really was too disinterested to care at this point. Bosh still struggles with his on the ball defense. His weak side help is good, but not on the ball. Bosh can’t cover Nachbar with a blanket, much less play defense on him. Swirsky threw in the towel with about 537 remaining in the 4th, by talking about how the Raptors will have to come into Sunday’s game more physical, in order to have a chance to even the series up. It caught me off guard a bit. First time I can remember Swirsky throwing in the towel with more than 5 minutes left. Mitchell should have taken Bosh/Ford/Parker out of the game at the 4 minute mark. Bosh was already over 40 minutes, and the game was out of reach. Time to regroup and recharge for Sunday. This was about the time I stopped with the notes, and went to warm up my dinner.

Game Points:

1. Bosh needs to play 40+ minutes/game in this series for any chance at a win. He also has to be show up, and play aggressively for all 40+ minutes he’s on the court.

2. I wonder if Mitchell ever thought of playing some zone against the Nets. Clearly man to man is not cutting it. They haven’t played much zone this season, but at this point, I think they can safely try anything.

3. Mitchell seems to make better adjustments at the half, than during the game in real time.

4. That shirt Jay-Z was wearing was really ugly…seriously dude, you can do better than that.

5. As per usual, and unexplainably, there was no ball rotation on the wings tonight. Catch and shoot. What happened to sharing the ball? The Raptors were good at that all season, why stop?

6. I actually chuckled (no pun intended) when Leo asked Chuck if he was going to get out the salami and cheese (in anticipation of a Nets win). lol…

7. Chuck, once again, like the idiot he is, said that “you have to ALMOST treat Sundays game as a must win.” Chuck, you are ALMOST

   a good commentator….That’s all I got.

That’s all I got.

Technorati Tags: Vince Carter, Jose Calderon, New Jersey Nets, Jason Kidd, Rasho Nesterovic, TJ Ford, Chris Bosh, Sam Mitchell, Bostjan Nachbar, Anthony Parker, Andrea Bargnani, Kris Humphries, Morris Peterson, Chuck Swirsky, Leo Rautins