This game is being shown on TSN2, the channel that when it does come on Rogers, I will never watch except for the Raptors game and even then, I’ll PVR the game so I don’t get to watch the commercials and make the shits who advertise on there suffer. We’ll try to have the game shown right here on the front page of Raptors Republic. Make sure to join us for the live chat which starts at 7PM EST along with the live blogging in this post. You should also check out the Opening Tip for this game which has information about Yi Jianlian’s real age, the one thing Vince Carter and Devin Harris share and something about Keyon Dooling that is hard to understand.
Also, if you’re going to the game, let’s give the VC booing a rest.
Here’s the game: http://www.justin.tv/bisktv
Raps lose to the Nets 94-87: Domination in all the hustle categories, rebounding, second chance points. Typical Raps build early lead, blow it by the second quarter and don’t have any offensive punch to come through in the clutch. This one falls on the often failing fourth quarter offense which can’t score in a tight game. Clutch offense has been a long-standing problem and it showed up again tonight. Bosh was basically a no-show again and Devin Harris took the game over in the key fourth quarter stretch to give the Nets a great win. Bench got outplayed 35-14. Ouch.
92-86 Nets 0:16 4Q VC and JC misses long jumeprs and we’re forced to foul. Dooling makes 1 of 2. Meh.
91-86 Nets 0:53 4Q: Jose nails a three, Harris takes a bad shot and Kapono makes a three so we’re stuck 8. We need a stop now, right? We get it but Anderson crashes over Parker and O’Neal to get the offensive rebound for two FTs. Fitting, very fitting. Bosh drives on Lopez (Congrats!) and fouls him out, something that should’ve happened a loooong time ago. This guy killed us all night long. Funny moment: Jose tried to stop the clock by dribbling the ball and then letting it roll in the backcourt, then he finally realized that doesn’t work in the NBA. What’s this I see, Jay Triano picking up a tech? Kapono did bump Harris, they do call that in the league now, you know? Jay Triano’s showing more intensity than anyone on the team. I have a question, why isn’t Jamario Moon playing? Hey, lookie here, CB4 with a made three. This looks like too little, too late. Rebounding differential stands at 51-36, -24 second chance points and -20 bench points.
86-74 Nets 2:44 4Q: Bosh missed another shot and JO decided to attack the rim and got fouled, too bad he missed both FTs. The Nets miss a shot but get yet another offensive rebound and two more points. Devin Harris then steals the ball from Jose and the Nets are off and running, Moon is forced to foul. Timeout Raps.
84-74 Nets 3:32 4Q: VC makes a three point play by attacking the rim and we respond with yet another jumper (Kapono this time, forced from the corner). Bosh is settling for jumpers and in contrast, Devin Harris attacked the rim and drew the foul. Calderon finally drives to the rim and takes our first shot in the paint in what seems like forever – draws a foul and makes two FTs. Jose had Bosh leaking out but couldn’t get the alley-oop timing right which results in a turnover, Harris comes back and drains a J. 4 point swing. Chris Bosh is passing up shots in single-coverage, finds Kapono for a contested shot when he should’ve taken charge. Kapono misses and on the ensuing possession, Bosh is late to rotate and Anderson drains a three to give the Nets their largest lead of the game.
74-72 Nets 5:38 4Q This quick stretch sees the Raptors not score at all. All jumpers, Bosh, JO, Calderon all settling. NJ with 16 OREB for 20 second chance points. Somebody drive to the fucking rim. Nets take a two point lead thanks to Lopez and Harris’ couple each.
72-70 Raps 8:56 4Q Moon starts the Q on the bench. AP (what an obscure reference is in) misses a makeable jumper and then gets blocked by Lopez. We try to get Kapono a shot but he gets rejected by Lopez, this man’s a beast! JO had trouble stopping Lopez but Bargnani’s handled him easily in the post, gets a block and on the next possession generates contact on the perimeter and gets a couple FTs. Devin Harris is the guy that’s taking the game over through – 8 pts in this stretch and all this while VC is resting. Nothing Roko or JC can do. Oh shit. We’re getting killed on the boards too, looking tired.
70-63 Raps End 3Q Bargnani ties up Carter and it results in a minor altercation – double fouls. Good to see some emotion from Bargnani. He also made a strong move to get himself two FTs, Nets missing a lot of jumpers now. Caldeorn with a nice drive to push the lead to double-digits but VC comes back with a three to make it a 7-point game heading to the fourth. Not over by any means and now we got VC a bit mad. Joey Graham gets an honorable mention for his defense.
66-60 Raps 2:39 Calderon finds a ttrailing Kapono for three again as Carter’s doing the majority of the ball-handling for the Nets now. The player of this stretch again is Jamario Moon who is moving without the ball and getting found by Calderon. Lots of missed shots here, Raptors with a 6 point lead. We’re getting outrebounded 35-28 but are shooting 47% compared to the Nets’ 38%.
58-57 Nets 5:00 3Q Bosh finally makes a couple jumpers and we catch a break as Lopez picks up his fourth foul against O’Neal (good flop), he had scored aganst him on the previous possession. Devin Harris got a drive ‘n kick against Jose and set up a three for Simmons. Carter then makes the pass on the swing sequence to set up another three for him, Simmons makes a good living in NJ. We’re trying to attack JO v Yi and the Nets are forced to help, Moon is taking good advantage by cutting to the rim and cleaning up the glass. Jose Calderon pushed the ball in transition and found Kapono for a trailing three. Boy, this Yi fella sure misses his threes loudly. No rim, all glass. The defense isn’t as tight as it was, I’d say Jamario Moon is playing the best right now. The high-energy of the first quarter is only to be found in him right now.
Halftime Entertainment :: More Entertainment
46-46 Halftime: We’re back to square one. Carter took the game over with his passing in this stretch, he set up Anderson for a couple hoops and was driving and kicking against Moon very effectively; set up a couple shots for Hassell too. Boone faked out Moon on the baseline ala MJ v Starks on that baseline dunk on Ewing. Bosh is playing terrible, he turned the ball over twice, got stuffed after driving against Boone/help and then couldn’t finish in traffic. We’re looking at him for offense right now and he’s not coming through. Carter then set up Anderson to tie the game, he’s passing beautifully in this stretch. Bosh’s response to his recent play: bitch to the refs, pick up a T and give the Nets the lead on a VC FT. The only good thing about this stretch was a Calderon bail-out jumper and Bargnani making his most aggressive move of the night and drawing a foul. This is following the same exact pattern as the earlier game in Toronto.
41-37 Raps 2:55 2Q: Nets are missing jumpers now, Chris Bosh’s drive ends up in a strip but he makes up for it by PLOWING Devin Harris when running back up the court. I’d take the tradeoff if he didn’t get dunked on by Brook Lopez and then turned the ball over again. Jack Armstrong says the Raps look tired, can we play more than a quarter of defense without gettign exhausted? Jason Kapono’s looking for his shot more Keon Clark looked for his bong. Makes a two, misses a three. This Yi fella just hit a three on us and the crafty VC draws a foul on Moon by taking his arms through his defense. This KG commercial is pretty good, can’t wait for the Bosh version.
37-30 Raps 5:30 2Q: Bosh at the elbow is a waste of time. After wasting about 7seconds he just passes it to JO who does what Bosh should’ve done – drive to the rim and finish with authority. It seems JG gets one of those crazy dunks every game, I’d tell you who he dunked on but this stream is a bit sketchy. Devin Harris drives to the rim and gets his shot blocked by JO, this sparks the break and JG plays the point, drives by his man on the baseline and sets up JK for a three in the corner. High-energy play, all this with Roko in there.
32-28 Raps 9:41 2Q: This is starting to look a lot like the earlier game in Toronto. JO tries to take Boone to the rack and does but misses two FTs, no worries, JO comes back to drain a jumper and then is setup by Roko for a JAAAM (Let’s NBA!). His offense is coming back to where it was before he got injured. Poor Roko, I feel bad for him, the guy gets a great steal but blows the layup under pressure. Bargnani loses Ryan Anderson on the wing and the Boki Nachbar clone knocks down a three. The Nets are back in it.
28-20 End 1Q: Offense choking under Roko as Nets pick up defensive intensity. Nets’ zone against Roko is much more effective than against Calderon. We didn’t score for a 3 minute stretch. Bargnani tried to create off the bounce and zipped a pass to Parker and it went straight through his hands. AP’s looking like he’s 50 years old, a couple turnovers and a miss from his favorite corner spot.
26-15 2:23 1Q: These idiots at the ACC keep booing VC and it motivates him. Nets have gone straight to VC after each of their timeouts and he’s delivered. JO tried to go at Lopez every chance he got, got a couple more FTs against him but then as is customary, picked up an offensive foul. Bargnani wakes up for his slumber and drains a couple jumpers, hopefully that will get him going. Raptors continue to be aggressive on defense, disrupt passing lanes and get deflections.
16-2 8:10 4Q: It’s all good for the Raps so far, we’re getting great energy for Moon on the defensive end and the lone Harris drive resulted in him being smothered in the paint. Nets play zone and Jose busts it open with a three. Highlight of the stretch was a Moon cut converted into an alley-oop through Jose’s pass.
9-0 10:06 1Q: Hollinger says Kapono if shoots without a conscience he’ll win us more games than he loses us. I agree as Kapono downs a three from the top of the key. Jermaine O’Neal’s been getting a lot of heat for having Brook Lopez outplay him, he responds with two early jumpers. Bosh chips in with two FTs for a good start.
