Music: {allcanada} RAPTORS, NETS BATTLE IN PIVOTAL GAME 3 ON TSN TONIGHT

Friday, April 25, 2014

{allcanada} RAPTORS, NETS BATTLE IN PIVOTAL GAME 3 ON TSN TONIGHT

Born In the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen / The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 - Justin Timberlake

If you're to believe the Brooklyn Nets, the Toronto Raptors can expect a less than warm reception tonight when they take the court at the Barclays Center in Game 3 with their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series deadlocked at 1-1.

"I don't know if that's going to be … We'll see," said the Nets' Kevin Garnett of the mood he expects inside the Barclays Center. "I don't know. I don't know. I've never had a series in Brooklyn before. I never said, 'F Brooklyn,' before so we're about to see what that's like."

The veteran centre was, of course, referring to Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri's now infamous comments prior to Game 1 of the series last Saturday that could produce some repercussions for the visiting team tonight.

You can catch all the action live on TSN, TSN GO and TSN Radio 1050 with coverage getting underway at 6:30pm et/3:30pm pt. TSN.ca will provide in-game highlights, live streaming of the fans in Maple Leaf Square and the post-game news conferences.

Jim Tatti, Duane Watson and Josh Lewenberg have the pre-game show starting at 6:30pm et, followed by Paul Jones and Sherman Hamilton calling all the action on TSN Radio 1050. Tatti, Watson, Lewenberg and Gareth Wheeler are back after the final buzzer with a full hour of complete post-game analysis.

Former Raptor and current Net, Alan Anderson, expects a boisterous crowd.

"They're more rowdy," said Anderson, comparing the crowd in Brooklyn against that of the Air Canada Centre. "Yeah, definitely, they're way more rowdy. You're going to see. It's Brooklyn ... New Yorkers. They come in and they're going to think they're in the game like they're playing so we're going to have some fun. I think it's going to be great, especially with the little chitter chatter going on. I know our fans are listening and I'm looking forward to it. Brooklyn, man, fans are rowdy already without help."

The Raptors, for their part, are more concerned about keeping All-Star DeMar DeRozan hot. After an inauspicious playoff debut in Game 1 where DeRozan was held to only 14 points on 3-for-13 shooting in the team's 94-87 loss, the 24-year-old rose to the occasion in Game 2, leading the team with 30, 17 in the fourth, in a 100-95 win.

"He's growing," said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. "He's still not a finished product. We've just seen the beginning of a guy becoming a star."

DeRozan chalked up his improved performance to learning from what he did wrong in the previous game.

"It was just me taking advantage of the mistakes I made in the first game and not doing the same thing in this game," said DeRozan after Game 2. "It's everything that you dream about, especially when you become a professional athlete, [play] at the highest level."

Playing at the highest level is something that has been synonymous with Paul Pierce throughout his entire career, but the Nets veteran went cold in Game 2. After a masterful performance in Game 1 where he finished with 15, including scoring six-straight points in the fourth quarter to give his team a lead that they would not relinquish, the man nicknamed "The Truth" cut an anonymous figure in Game 2, going 2-for-11 from the floor and finishing with only seven points.

Nets coach Jason Kidd, though, doesn't think Pierce has given him anything to worry about in Game 3.

"No matter what he shot in the last game, he had great looks and they just went in and out, and so there's nothing in the sense of changing what Paul's going to do," Kidd said of Pierce, who missed two open threes in the game's final 30 seconds. "He's a very smart player, he understands time and situation and ... there's no concern."

Game 3, though, is of major concern to both teams. Last season, the Nets trailed the Chicago Bulls 2-1 in their Eastern Conference quarterfinals, the team's first in Brooklyn, and eventually fell to the Bulls in seven games.

In NBA playoff history, a team with a 2-1 series advantage has gone on to win 283 of 345 series, good for a winning percentage of .820.

The Michael J. Fox Show / ESPN Fantasy Football / Work From Home