Only 5 games remain until the countdown until the Nets first lottery appearance since 2001, barring a miracle, yet each of the next two games have major Eastern Conference playoff implications. Tonight the Nets travel to Cleveland to play a slumping Cavs team still fighting for home-court advantage in the first round. Friday night New Jersey heads north of the border for another matchup against Toronto, now below .500 thanks to a 4-11 stretch that’s dropped the Raptors to the seventh seed.
Teams entering the postseason have three items on the wish list: health, home court, and peak at the right time. Cleveland currently has none of the three, losing its stranglehold on the 4-seed with losses in five of seven, putting home court at risk, and worst of all, a bad back hobbles Lebron James. Try telling Coach Mike Brown tonight’s game with New Jersey means nothing. If the Nets need extra incentive to play spoiler, Coach Frank’s squad can sweep the Cavs for the season since 1982-83, and only the second time since the merger.
Toronto faces a host of problems. Chris Bosh returned from injury to a team that fell apart without him, 2-8 during his absence, and he let them know about it by criticizing the team. Even with Bosh, the Raptors continue to struggle, falling behind both Washington and Philadelphia in the standings, by one and two games respectively. A first-round matchup with Detroit will almost guarantee a second straight first round exit. Toronto has five games left to turn things around, try to grab a better seed, and buy themselves a fighting chance in the first round. Vince Carter never needs an extra reason to play hard against the Raptors, but if he did, quieting the rabid Canadian fans while extinguishing any hopes for the fifth or sixth seed will help.
While the Nets countdown to the draft lottery, they still have a chance to leave their fingerprints on the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs before hitting the links.
