| Why The Raptors Have To Beat The Nets Authored by Anas Ahmed - April 23, 2007 - 7:29 pm
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To make matters worse for Canada’s only team, the Raptors lost the playoff opener and in effect lost home court advantage.
Two thirds of New Jersey’s big three had their way with the Raptors, with Richard Jefferson going off for 28 points while Jason Kidd flirted with a triple double.
The missing third of the trio of superstars, Vince Carter, with the exception of a few key plays down the stretch, had a horrible game, shooting just 5-19 from the floor.
For those of you outside of Raptorland who think that Raptors fans are finding solace in Carter’s abysmal effort in the series opener, think again.
Yes, the Sea of Red booed Carter mercilessly every time he touched the ball. And yes, they cheered every time he missed, but the bottom line is the Nets pulled out the victory and added fuel to the gas tank that drives the Nets over the Raptors bandwagon.
Toronto fans may hate Vince Carter and everything that he stands for, but perhaps the one thing that drives Toronto sports fans more than their unbridled disgust for Carter is, yes you guessed it, winning.
The very thought of the Raptors magical season being ended by the man that had the biggest hand in their years of NBA bottom feeding sends chills down the spine of anyone that has ever cheered the words, “Let’s go Raptors.”
Carter could score 50 points and it wouldn’t matter as long as the Raptors won. In fact, it would probably be much sweeter for Raps fans if Carter played his, ahem-heart-ahem out and still lost.
Losing this series means much more for the Raptors and their fans than to the Nets.
Firstly, as I discussed earlier, the Raptors losing means Vince winning, and most fans would tell you that would be worse than watching Wayne Newton make everyone’s ears bleed at the All-Star game over and over on their PVR (or TiVo as our friends down south call it).
Secondly, losing would allow everyone to say that the Raptors aren’t the best team in the Atlantic. Despite becoming Division Champions for the first time in franchise history, people around the league (including Isiah Thomas) still hold to the belief that the Nets are the team to beat in the Atlantic. If the Raptors were to lose, their hard work in winning the division would go to waste and for the first time in his professional career, Thomas would be right.
Thirdly, whoever gets out of this series the winner could very well be headed to the Eastern Conference Finals as they would be avoiding the powerhouse that is Detroit and the defending NBA Champs, the Miami Heat, should they go on to beat the Chicago Bulls.
Lastly, the Raptors losing means Vince winning, or did I already say that?
So on behalf of all self-respecting Toronto Raptors fans, here’s hoping that the Raps prove their dominance of the Atlantic and go on to beat the Vince Carter cradling New Jersey Nets.
Anas Ahmed can be contacted at anas-ahmed@hotmail.com |
