NEW YORK - The basketball gods have spoken, with an assist from Jason Kidd. Cody Zeller Jersey . The Toronto Raptors will open their first playoff series in six years at home to the Brooklyn Nets at 12:30 PM et Saturday afternoon. The Raptors learned their fate early in the second half of Wednesdays season final - a 95-92 loss to the Knicks - when Chicago fell to Charlotte in overtime, assuring Toronto would finish with the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn had been red-hot, winning 33 of 46 games - the second best record in the East since Jan. 1 - until they dropped four of the last five contests, conceding a division title to the Raptors and ultimately falling to sixth place. Their last stand in Cleveland suggests that the late-season collapse, or at least the latter half of it, may not have been an accident. Kidds Nets squandered a couple of opportunities to lock up the fifth seed, setting up a likely matchup with the surging Bulls, on the final two nights of the campaign. On Wednesday evening, with four teams jockeying for playoff seeding, the Nets rookie head coach opted to sit all five of his starters, suiting up only seven players in a winnable game against the lowly Cavaliers. They would go on to lose by 29. "In my experience, youve got to be careful what you wish for," Dwane Casey cautioned ahead of Wednesdays finale. "You think you want to play a certain team then you start preparing for them and say, wow that teams pretty good. Then youve got a dogfight. I think the best way to approach it is let the basketball gods decide." Faced with a similar decision, Casey - who was an assistant in Dallas when he and Kidd won a championship together in 2011 - chose to play his stars against the Knicks and compete to win. Thats just one of the factors that separate these two teams, that creates a trace of animosity going into this weekends first-round matchup. Whether they care to admit to it or not, the Nets took their foot off the gas in the hope of maximizing the odds of facing an inexperienced Raptors team. Whether Torontos players or coaches care to admit it, thats a slap in the face, or at least it should be. Do they feel slighted? "No, man," Lowry responded, after the game. "They rested their players. Thats what they did." They shouldnt need added motivation, Casey wisely posted out. The Raptors have been underestimated and theyre about to be again. They will be lost in a sea of publicity surrounding the compelling storylines of a big market team with a payroll exceeding $100 million. "Weve played all season as the underdog, as the small guy trying to come up, whatever you want to call it," said DeMar DeRozan, who is one of three Raptors starters slated to make his postseason debut Saturday. "We always play with a chip on our shoulder and we understand going into the playoffs, we havent done nothing. We havent made it to the playoffs in six years. So weve got to go in there with a chip on our shoulder and understand its going to be a dog fight every single game, just like the season was." Their starting lineup goes into the series with 24 games of playoff experience to Brooklyns 399. The average age of the Nets first unit - complete with veterans and future hall of famers - is eight years older than Torontos. Its a clash of old and young, the battle-tested versus the unproven soldiers. "Experience is one thing but youve got to go play," said Casey, who is also venturing into uncharted waters, his first postseason as a head coach. "You have to go out and compete, its why they play the games. Our guys are going to be ready." "Theyve got a lot of older veterans that have been in the league 10-plus years so thats an advantage that we have," DeRozan said. "We understand that theyre experienced and everything but hey, who isnt? Once you come in this league youre going against players all season that are experienced in some way. You just have to find a way to win." The Raptors and Nets split a four-game season series, with each team winning one on the road. Perhaps it was fate. In a redditt AMA chat last month, Terrence Ross identified the Nets as a preferred playoff matchup, to which Brooklyns Andray Blatche took issue and responded, "Ross asked for this, so theyve got to back up their words." These teams faced off in the 2007 playoffs - Toronto the third seed, the Nets, then in New Jersey, the sixth - after the Raptors won their first and only other division title. It was the first postseason experience for the likes of Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon and Anthony Parker, among others. That inexperience against a veteran Nets team - led by Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson - proved costly, as inexperience tends to be in the playoffs. This Raptors team believes theyre different, that they have something special. They may be right. As most observers - both devoted and casual alike - are aware and will continue to be force-fed ad nauseam ahead of their first postseason game since 2008, the Raptors rapid return to relevance in the East was unexpected. Generous prognosticators billed them as a conference wild card, a fringe playoff team, at best. Division winner? No chance. Not with a pair of entitled New York-area giants and their gargantuan payrolls occupying the Atlantic. Internally, expectations were being tempered, justifiably so. After years of false promises, the word "playoffs" was quickly dismissed in place of a new goal; "growth". They were indeed a wild card in the East. A newly structured front office, an expiring head coach and starting point guard, an $18 million experiment inherited from the previous regime. "We didnt go into the season thinking we were going to be division winners," Casey admitted. "That was our goal but we knew that was going to be a lofty goal. We always go in trying to swing for the fences. Once the trade happened, no one knew. The guys kept working, kept working, kept working and [it] kind of came together." The Raptors were 6-12 before that fabled evening in Los Angeles, the night Rudy Gay was shipped to Sacramento and the fortunes of a long-suffering franchise began to turn. From that point on they would finish the season with a record of 42-22, tops in the East. Some will shrug them off as the poster team of a historically weak Eastern Conference and at one point, early in the season, that may have been the case. However, they made it here on their own merit. Theyre one just four teams, in either conference, to finish in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Their 22 road wins, a franchise record, tied Miami and Washington for the best mark in the East and they finished with 16-14 against the superior Western Conference. Their individual and collective accomplishments seem countless. Their starting five has won more games than any other in team history, each player putting up career highs in minutes logged and scoring. On Monday they hung their second division championship banner and set a new franchise mark in wins. Six months ago that would have been more than enough. Now, its an appetizer. Theyve tasted success and they want more. No one is satisfied. "When I first got here that was one of my biggest goals, to get this team back to the playoffs," said Kyle Lowry. "Im happy to be there but Im not satisfied. I want to go out there, I want to make some noise and show that were really a good team." Michael Carter-Williams Jersey . Schaub will start for an injured Case Keenum and try to help the Texans end a 12-game skid. Schaubs last action in Houston came when he took over late in a game against Oakland on Nov. 17 as Keenum was struggling. Alonzo Mourning Jersey .The long-haired pivot, who joined the Alouettes midway through the CFL season and put up a 9-3 record as a starter, will be listed as the top quarterback in training camp next spring.With a full training camp under his belt, the Alouettes will see if he has what it takes to get them back to the Grey Cup game after a four-year absence. http://www.hornetsteamproshop.com/Cheap-Michael-Kidd-Gilchrist-Hornets-Jersey/ .Best moustache: How can we not give this to Lanny McDonald? Check out the duster for yourself.OTTAWA - Mired in a nine-game losing streak, the Ottawa Redblacks cant be blamed for feeling desperate for a win. While players and coaches will say theyve come close and theyre doing good things, the losing streak is taking its toll. The one and only victory for Ottawa (1-11) came way back on July 18 against the Toronto Argonauts. Two weeks ago the Redblacks suffered a heartbreaking 35-32 overtime loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders despite having the lead for much of the game. Last week the Redblacks had to deal yet again with disappointment when they were unable to take advantage of what looked like perfect scoring situations and settled for a 15-7 loss to Montreal. Losing is wearing thin, and not just for Ottawa. This week the Redblacks host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-7) who are dealing with their own four-game losing streak. You can watch the game live on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN GO at 7pm et/4pm pt. The next games the biggest game for us, said head coach Rick Campbell. Were scratching and clawing to get wins just like everybody else does. We have the same approach to come out flying around and try to make a couple more plays and try to get a win. Campbell says he cant allow his team to look at the Bombers as an easy target. Were focused on ourselves, Campbell said. We think we have a big future ahead of us here. Were working hard everyday to get better and we respect all the people we play and theres a lot of good teams in this league and Winnipegs no different. Theyve done a lot of great things this year and were going to have our hands full, but were going to focus on us and playing the best football we can. Still, Campbell acknowledged that the losses have taken their toll on the group. Were hanging in there, but its tough, Campbell said. Its tough to lose games and tough to lose close games, but we think we have a lot of right parts tto our team here and our guys have the right attitude, but we know we have to work hard and get better as fast as we can and start winning some of these close games. Custom Charlotte Hornets Jerseys. It seems so long ago, but the Redblacks opened the season against the Bombers scoring on their first three drives. Ottawa went on to lose 36-28, but had a solid outing leading many to believe the young expansion team might surprise football fans. Even players admit that first game was reason to have hope. Coming out like we did and scoring on our first three drives it seemed like our season was going to be a very successful season, said wide receiver Marcus Henry. Unfortunately thats just how football is, you never know how its going to go. Were getting better and were a good team. The way weve been losing, like in the last minutes of the game, have been tough, but thats just going to build our character. Henry says despite the losses the team is able to remain resilient because theyre able to see improvement. It might not be evident in the overall standings, but Henry says there are some good things that the team can focus on. Were a lot more confident in what were doing and were used to the system now and just used to everyone thats around us so I think thats a big part of it, said Henry. What does bode well for the Redblacks this Friday is the way the defence has played at TD Place. It hasnt allowed a touchdown on home field in three of the last four games. Weve done really well on defence so far, but we still need to do better, said defensive lineman Keith Shologan. We havent won enough games, so when it comes down it we havent played good enough for that reason. Our goal is for each of us to do better, starting with (Fridays) game. Notes: Dobson Collins replaces Carlton Mitchell at receiver. Defensive back Jermaine Robinson will also be in the lineup. Cheap Heat Jerseys Cheap Bucks Jerseys Cheap Timberwolves Jerseys Cheap Pelicans Jerseys Cheap Knicks Jerseys Cheap Thunder Jerseys Cheap Magic Jerseys Cheap 76ers Jerseys Cheap Suns Jerseys Cheap Blazers Jerseys Cheap Sacramento Kings Jerseys Cheap Spurs Jerseys Cheap Raptors Jerseys Cheap Jazz Jerseys Cheap Wizards Jerseys ' ' '