Raps Regain Advantage As Series Shifts To New Jersey

As the final seconds rolled off the clock during the Toronto Raptors’ massive Game 2 victory, a huge weight was lifted from the shoulders of almost everyone in the organization and placed directly on those of the New Jersey Nets.

Sure, the 89-83 win only tied the series at one game apiece as the setting shifts to the unfriendly confines of the Meadowlands, but with home court advantage still belonging to the Raptors, it appears to once again be advantage Toronto.

The jitters that NBA Coach of the Year Sam Mitchell’s club clearly demonstrated in Game 1 appear to have been exorcised, Chris Bosh seems to have rediscovered his all-star form, and Anthony Parker is, well, playing out of his mind.

So now that Bryan Colangelo’s brainchild is back on solid ground, the challenge becomes winning at least one of two games at Continental Airlines Arena, which are set for Friday and Sunday.

If Toronto can achieve that modest feat, the best-of-seven series will essentially become a best-of-three set, with two of those games being held at the Air Canada Centre where the Raptors were one of the toughest teams in the Eastern Conference, particularly in the second half of the season.

And now the young team finally has a playoff win under its belt, and you know that can’t be bad.

“It feels good, it’s been a long time, but this part of the season is about fun,” Bosh said after Tuesday’s victory.

“You play 82 games and you work hard for this moment, and I’m just trying to enjoy it. The home crowd was pretty rowdy tonight, they had our back, and we made big plays down the stretch of the game.”

Whether those same big plays will be made down the stretch in this first-round series remains to be seen, but if the incredibly deep Raptors can just match the Nets over the next couple of games, advancing to the second round for just the second time in franchise history should be a very attainable goal.

“We know that these games are going to be hard to win, and in order to win, you have to grind it out,” Bosh said.

After the pair in Jersey, Game 5 will take place back at the Air Canada Centre Tuesday.

Oh, and as far as former Raptor Vince Carter goes, the perennial all-star hasn’t exactly been glittery in the first two games, but to hear his teammates tell it, the Raps and their fans are merely enjoying the calm before the storm.

“We’re going to ride him until hopefully they start falling in this building,” Jason Kidd said of Vince’s struggles at the ACC.

“But the good thing is we have two at our place so we don’t have to worry about this building until Game 5.”

Carter had just 19 points on 8-of-24 shooting in Game 2.

Toronto lost in both visits to New Jersey this season.