Raptors at Nets
The Brooklyn Nets made their charge this season on the strength of a dominant run at home, and will try to translate that success to the postseason when they host Game 3 of a first-round Eastern Conference series with Toronto on Friday. Before dropping two of their last three regular-season games at home while resting some regulars, the Nets won a franchise-record 15 consecutive contests at the Barclays Center, part of a 23-9 burst overall that made them a factor in the East. Brooklyn has won its first home game of a playoff series three straight times and the atmosphere figures to be a rather raucous one after the intensity of the first two games.
"That’s one thing that concerns me about our young team is going into a hostile environment,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said Wednesday on SiriusXM NBA Radio. While the Nets are back in comfortable surroundings after splitting the first two games in Toronto, the Raptors have the momentum following a 100-95 win in Game 2 on Tuesday. As Brooklyn's Paul Pierce struggled to a 2-for-11 performance, Toronto's leading scorer DeMar DeRozan shook off a difficult Game 1 effort to score 30 points - including 17 in the fourth quarter - to lift his team to its first win in a playoff game since 2008.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2, TSN (Toronto), WWOR (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE RAPTORS: DeRozan and fellow star Kyle Lowry get the headlines, but big man Jonas Valanciunas may be the key to Toronto's chances. He is averaging 16 points and 16 rebounds in the series, helping the Raptors produce a 97-67 advantage on the glass to help offset their 40 turnovers. Patrick Patterson, who had a big steal and basket in the final seconds to clinch a win at Brooklyn on Jan. 27, has contributed 10.5 points and seven rebounds off the bench so far.
ABOUT THE NETS: Pierce called his team "soft" in the wake of its fourth-quarter performance in Game 2, when Toronto scored 36 points on 12-of-16 shooting over the final 12 minutes. "That was our worst fourth quarter defense in a long time in the fourth quarter," he told reporters following the game. The disparity should not come as a surprise, however, as the Raptors had the highest scoring margin (+2.4 points) in the NBA this season, while the Nets were 25th (-1.2).
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Lowry is averaging 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the series.
2. F Andrei Kirilenko had four steals as Brooklyn's reserves finished with 11 in Game 2.
3. Raptors PG Greivis Vasquez has produced 16 assists against three turnovers off the bench in the series.