<div align="center"> <div align="center">vs. </div> <font color="DarkRed"> </font> <div align="center"><font color="Blue">The New Jersey Nets</font> (31-26) vs <font color="DimGray"><font color="Red">The Toronto Raptors</font> <font color="Black">(20-37)</font></font> Time: Saturday, March 4th, 1:00 PM Location: <font color="Blue">Continential Airlines Arena</font> </div> <div align="center"><font color="Blue"><font color="Black">TV: Yes Network</font></font> <font color="Blue"><font color="Black"> Radio: WFAN 660 AM</font></font> </div> <font color="Blue"> </font>[div=50%]The Raptors are a young team, but do not really have a season going. They are not vieing so much for the playoffs as they are attempting to develop thier young players. The Raptors are definitly beatable. In fact, it would be a disgrace for the Nets to lose at home to such a team. Projected Starters Point Guard: <font color="DeepSkyBlue"><font color="Red">Mike James</font> </font>[imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/mike_james.jpg[/imgl] A shoot-first point guard this season is having a career high scoring season with 18.2 points per game. Jason Kidd should have no trouble trumping James due to the deficiency of James' defense. Shooting Guard: <font color="Red">Morris Peterson</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/morris_peterson.jpg[/imgl] Scoring almost 15 point per game Peterson is not a scoring superstar. He is a dependable offensive guard, but like James does not play too much defense (although he played more of it than James). Small Forward: <font color="Red">Chris Bosh</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/chris_bosh.jpg[/imgl] People see this guy as the next big thing. Looking at his statistics, I can see why. The young man has averaged 22 points this season in addition to 9 rebounds per game. He will have a match-up nightmare for Jefferson. Power Forward: <font color="Red">Charlie Villanueva</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/charlie_villanueva.jpg[/imgl] Not bad for a rookie. He averages around 12 points per game and pulls down around 5 rebounds a game. Offensivly Krstic matches Villenueva. In terms of toughness, Krstic surpasses him. Center: <font color="Red">Matt Bonner</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/matt_bonner.jpg[/imgl]<font color="Black">A young center who puts up less than Collins' numbers. He is one of the players that the Raptors are attempting to develop into something.</font><font color="DimGray"> <font color="Red">Raptors: Keys to the Game</font></font><font color="Red"> </font> 1) Have a strong game from the Toronto bigmen. 2) Take advantage of the fact that the Nets have a new rotation. 3) Do not get discouraged or relax. [/div]The Nets have a chance to erase a three game losing streak. Thier chances of winning this are very high if they remain focused and play at a high level. It will be interesting to see the new rotation of players that Lawrence Frank has brewed up and that he anticipates will work much better than what ever rotation he had thus far. Projected Starters Point Guard: <font color="Blue">Jason Kidd</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/jason_kidd.jpg[/imgl] He should have fun in this game offensivly because the Raptors defense is not even close to top-notch. Shooting Guard: <font color="Blue">Vince Carter</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/vince_carter.jpg[/imgl] Kobe scored 81 points against the Raptors. How many points can Carter score. Tonight will be the night that this question is answered. I doubt that Carter will score any more than 24 points because Lawrence is going to be going to Jefferson much more this game. Small Forward: <font color="Blue">Richard Jefferson</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/richard_jefferson.jpg[/imgl] Has a tough defensive and offensive assignment. Jefferson wanted more touches, but I do not think that he will want them in this game since he will be guarded by a much taller Bosh. Power Forward: <font color="Blue">Jason Collins</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/jason_collins.jpg[/imgl]With his physical play, he should be able to keep Villanueva off of the boards and keep his from scoring more than ten. Center: <font color="Blue">Nenad Krstic</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/nenad_krstic.jpg[/imgl] Should be able to dominate in this game because the Raptors do not have a strong interior defense. <font color="Blue">Nets: Keys To The Game</font> <font color="Black">1) Feed Krstic the ball. 2) Let Carter get going and keep him going. The Raptors will not stop him. 3) Play with confidence. Yes there is going to be a new rotation, but confidence is still key. Overconfidence is bad too, but how overconfident can the Nets get considering that they are losers of thier last three games. </font></div>
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Jason Kidd should have no trouble trumping James due to the deficiency of James' defense.</div> Mike James is a solid defender. Have you even seen him play?
Mo Pete is actually a very good defender, so i'm not sure where you got that from. Mike James is an ok defender..not great but not horrible. Chris Bosh is going to destroy all. CV plays the 3 to Bosh's 4. otherwise good preview
Just a couple corrections on the Raptors info: -Bosh is playing PF and Villanueva is playing SF -While Charlie's averaging 12 points this season, he's had around 17 since he's been starting -MoPete is above average defender -Bonner isn't a center, he's just forced there because of AD's injury And on the preview in general: -You missed the most important aspect in this matchup. The bench. The Raptors can match the Nets' starters in scoring (4 of their 5 starters have scored over 20 in the last few games). The game will come down to which of these team's weak bench will step up and which team will make a stop on defense when it counts.
I hope Vince owns today because we need to get back on track. I think he'll have over 30 today in a double digit victory.
Good game by the Nets and I hope they keep it up against the Kings. I don't know why but, I liked the new rotation even though the bench had 12 pts. Here are the stats Kidd 14 pts 15 asts 13 rebs. He is playing incredible the past 6 games Carter 31 pts 7 rebs Jefferson 30 pts 8 rebs Krstic 18 pts 9 rebs
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RY0260:</div><div class="quote_post">what was the rotation??</div> Coach Frank decided to make a new player rotation.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RY0260:</div><div class="quote_post">what was it</div> Well.....how would I know? Ask Frank..jeez.
