Pacers are the big winners. Raptors get punished with a brutal matchup. Second round looked so good for so long and then the other form of tanking started happening. Ouch.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
1. They weren't winning a 2nd round matchup anyway so meeting the Heat is more high profile. If they have a decent showing it is good for the franchise. Two rounds of playoff experience is a bonus for a young team.
2. Beating the Wizards is ho hum. Beating the Nets is a fitting accomplishment for the year. Losing to the Wizards would be a bummer. Losing to the Nets has the obvious built in excuse.
A big win and a decent showing is the best they could hope for / might as well beat the favored Nets for the big win part.
Scary thought, would the Nets have any realistic chance of beating the Raps, the Heat and the Pacers to go to the finals? They did peak at the right time and have a deep roster. However, I'm not convinced rookie coache Jason Kidd is any good.
Last edited by darklord700; 04-17-2014 at 11:40 AM.
Ya, the Nets and the Heat would be a crash course in playoff experience for this team if that's how it played out. It will be a tough first round though, obviously.
Scary thought, would the Nets have any realistic chance of beating the Raps, the Heat and the Pacers to go to the finals? They did peak at the right time and have a deep roster. However, I'm not convinced rookie coache Jason Kidd is any good.
I say no. They are a bad road team (even when they were one of the hottest teams in the league overall, they were under .500 on the road). They're one of the worst teams in the league in 4th quarters. The fact that they don't have home court advantage and don't play well on the road means longer playoff series in general. They won't be knocking anyone out in 4 or 5 games, and as a result they aren't going to be resting much between series. I also don't believe that their 'long-ball' lineup will hold up in the playoffs; the mismatches it creates were challenges for teams to adapt to for single games, but over the course of a series I think it'll get broken down.
I think there's a chance they get by the Raptors (although I don't expect them to), but almost no chance of a deep playoff run.
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I really hope the Raps play Hansbrough strategically. He was huge at times in Indiana, and he should match up well against the thugs in Brooklyn. As well, Kidd is prone to making stupid moves as a coach, and having a guy like Hansbrough making hard fouls could throw the team off.
Scary thought, would the Nets have any realistic chance of beating the Raps, the Heat and the Pacers to go to the finals? They did peak at the right time and have a deep roster. However, I'm not convinced rookie coache Jason Kidd is any good.
Nets won't beat the Heat. It is great for them that they won the games in the regular season but once the play-offs start and Wade acutally starts playing no way do the Nets win.
I think they are a better team than the Raps and can win that series but even that is 60/40 at best.
No way do they win two rounds let alone three.
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I really hope the Raps play Hansbrough strategically. He was huge at times in Indiana, and he should match up well against the thugs in Brooklyn. As well, Kidd is prone to making stupid moves as a coach, and having a guy like Hansbrough making hard fouls could throw the team off.
Hasnbrough also had one of his best games of the season in the first game against the Nets, before Patterson and Hayes came in and Hansbrough dropped down the depth chart.
I agree, I'd like to see him get a regular shift, his ability to draw fouls, physically pound guys and get under their skin makes him valuable. He might not draw fouls in his first game, but playing against Hansbrough for 5, 6, 7 games, it's really going to drive guys nuts. As well, with Brooklyn already struggling in terms of defensive rebounding, he should be able to have a field day under there.
