Quick talking points in the wake of a Jason Kidd-administered whacking worthy of The Sopranos -- the Nets rolled 102-89 over the Raptors in Game 3, and it wasn't that close:
- Can the Raptors win three out of four games after the way they played last night?
- Like we didn't all know there was a chance this might happen with a young team in its first playoff go-around.
- Chris Bosh's stat line (11 points, 11 boards on 3-of-10 from the floor) suggests he was emotionally absent, although he is far from the Raptors' biggest issue. It's the coaching and the team's evident lack of preparation.
- Wish we hadn't said that the Raptors peaked in February. Hey, New Jersey still has to win two more games. It's not over.
- Kidd really had 16 points, 19 assists and 16 rebounds? There's a veteran taking over and there's a callow opponent being scared out playing team defence. The Nets have dropped 74 dimes through three games to the Raptors' 46. It might be time to break out the Nash defence -- take away the pass from Kidd and defy him to be the scorer.
- At the end of Game 2, the assumption was that Joey Graham would be dropped from the starting lineup. It might have been a case of keep playing him or lose him for the rest of the series. Well, it's been three damn games and Morris Peterson can at least stretch the defence with his 3-point shooting and give Bosh some more room inside.
- A good point of reference might be that Texas two-step a couple months ago. The Raptors were totally unwatchable in a Monday night waxing at the hand of the San Antonio Spurs, but bounced back two nights later to put up a 67-point first half against a Houston team who's a lot better than the Nets. That was with a healthy Andrea Bargnani and Jorge Garbajosa, however.
(Full disclosure: Work commitments precluded actually watching the game, which was probably for the better.)
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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