Can Brooklyn Win Against The Heats
The droning chant will have to wait until the series moves to Barclays Center for Saturday's Game 3. But an argument could be made it has been ringing in the Miami Heat's ears for months.
An early-round matchup the Heat thought they had avoided with their No. 2 East playoff seed, until some late manipulation by the Brooklyn Nets, is at hand, the best-of-seven conference semifinal series starting Tuesday night at American Airlines. No team this season, at least when it came to wins and losses, had the Heat's number like Brooklyn, sweeping the four-game season series, as well as winning both preseason matchups. And, yes, it means Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are back as playoff rivals, this time in Brooklyn black instead of Boston green, complete with the enduring playoff respect and contempt that long has heightened these postseason matchups against LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
It will always be there, Wade said after Sunday's practice, a session completed before the Nets defeated the Raptors 104-103 at Air Canada Centre in Game 7 of that series. I don't think there will be a moment where it won't, just the competitive nature of those guys. While the Nets swept the Heat 4-0, three of those victories were by one point, with the fourth coming in double-overtime. We know we can beat them, Nets guard Joe Johnson said after leading the Nets with 26 points Sunday, but it's going to be a lot different from the regular season.
I don't think we played our best basketball again them, said guard Ray Allen, who evoked the ire of Garnett and Pierce when he left the Celtics in the 2012 offseason, a year before his former Boston teammates departed. When I think about the games, we had inconsistent lineups. But guys that were in there played well, but we just didn't play well enough, and defensively weren't good. So hats off to them because they beat us four times. But we didn't particularly like how we played in those games. With the short turnaround, the Nets flew directly from Toronto to Miami.
They're a different team in the playoffs, Pierce said of the Heat. Series like this that push you get you ready for the next round, so we're going to be battle-tested going into Miami, I think. He also offered perspective on the rivalry with the Heat.
The droning chant will have to wait until the series moves to Barclays Center for Saturday's Game 3. But an argument could be made it has been ringing in the Miami Heat's ears for months.
An early-round matchup the Heat thought they had avoided with their No. 2 East playoff seed, until some late manipulation by the Brooklyn Nets, is at hand, the best-of-seven conference semifinal series starting Tuesday night at American Airlines. No team this season, at least when it came to wins and losses, had the Heat's number like Brooklyn, sweeping the four-game season series, as well as winning both preseason matchups. And, yes, it means Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are back as playoff rivals, this time in Brooklyn black instead of Boston green, complete with the enduring playoff respect and contempt that long has heightened these postseason matchups against LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
I don't think we played our best basketball again them, said guard Ray Allen, who evoked the ire of Garnett and Pierce when he left the Celtics in the 2012 offseason, a year before his former Boston teammates departed. When I think about the games, we had inconsistent lineups. But guys that were in there played well, but we just didn't play well enough, and defensively weren't good. So hats off to them because they beat us four times. But we didn't particularly like how we played in those games. With the short turnaround, the Nets flew directly from Toronto to Miami.
They're a different team in the playoffs, Pierce said of the Heat. Series like this that push you get you ready for the next round, so we're going to be battle-tested going into Miami, I think. He also offered perspective on the rivalry with the Heat.