Unser Chat » he Magics reserves outscored Brooklyns

TORONTO -- If the Toronto Raptors have a preferable post-season opponent, theyre not saying. The Raptors wrap up their record-breaking regular season Wednesday night at New York, and wont know until post-game wholl theyll face in the playoffs. And they insist they dont care. "Were just worried about ourselves," Amir Johnson said after Mondays victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. "We just want to clean up on our mistakes. Whoevers in front of us, were going to play the same way weve been playing all season." The Raptors, who set a franchise record with their 48th win of the season Monday night, will face either the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards or Charlotte Bobcats when the opening round begins this weekend. The Raptors are tied with the Chicago Bulls for third in the Eastern Conference, but control their own destiny. Theyll clinch the No. 3 seed if they either beat the Knicks on Wednesday, or the Bulls lose at Charlotte. Theyll finish fourth if they lose and Chicago wins. "We havent thought about it or talked about it," guard Kyle Lowry said, about the ramifications of Wednesdays schedule. "Were just going to go out there and play our game." Raptors coach Dwane Casey has been resting his starters -- all-star DeMar DeRozan got the night off Monday. Casey said he would consider resting DeRozan again Wednesday, despite what outcome that might have on the game, and their conference seeding. "Im more worried about us moreso than who we play. Its about us. About our health, rest, whatever we decide to do in that situation. If we play Brooklyn, we play Brooklyn, if we play Washington, we play Washington, theres no easy teams left in the playoffs right now, all the teams are very capable," Casey said. "Brooklyn is probably more playoff-ready, but we cant control that and were not going into this game trying to control that. Im more worried about our guys health -- rest if we rest them -- and our rhythm. And its a fine line between the two." While the players might not have a stated preference, fans certainly do, and general consensus is Washington. The Raptors won the season series against the Wizards three games to one. The Raptors lost all three of their games to Charlotte this season, although only by a combined nine points. They split their four games with Brooklyn, but the Nets have that invaluable playoff experience. Five Nets players alone -- Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko and Joe Johnson -- have 432 playoff appearances combined. The Toronto Raptors: 147. Raptors starters DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross: Zero. The Raptors are making their first playoff appearance since 2007-08. They were beaten in five games by the Orlando Magic. This is the sixth time in the teams 19-year history theyve made the playoffs. Their only series win was in 2000-01 when they beat the New York Knicks three games to two, before losing to the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games in the second round. 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Mired in an offensive slump, Lowry - the NBAs leader in taking charges this season - did what he has learned to do best, standing his ground and drawing a crucial offensive foul on the Cavaliers all-star point guard. Fast forward 30 seconds to the Cavs next possession, with the home team still trailing by three, Spencer Hawes - one of the leagues best passing big men - threw an interception, intended for Tyler Zeller and picked off by DeMar DeRozan.ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Orlando Magic ended two negative streaks while ruining Jason Kidds first game as an NBA head coach. Third-year centre Nikola Vucevic and rookie point guard Victor Oladipo both had 19 points as the Magic outplayed the Brooklyn Nets in the second half of a 107-86 victory Sunday night. It was the second straight win for Orlando, which hadnt won back-to-back games since Dec. 19, 2012, a stretch of 60 games. It also stopped a four-game losing streak to the Nets, who swept Orlando last season winning the four games by an average of 19.8 points. Andrew Nicholson, a second-year reserve forward, added 17 points and 11 rebounds and Arron Afflalo had 16 points and a career-high eight assists for Orlando. "That group in the other locker room (Nets) is very impressive, theyre Hall of Famers," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said referring to off-season acquisitions Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, and All-Star guard Deron Williams. "If we played them one-on-one, wed lose. If we come with a collective responsibility approach at both ends of the floor, we have a chance and our guys did that at both ends of the floor." The Magic limited Brooklyn to 38.2 per cent shooting (34 of 89), outrebounded the Nets 54-42, and allowed only Brook Lopez and Pierce to reach double figures. Lopez had 21 points and Pierce added 16. The Nets backcourt of Williams and Joe Johnson were a combined 5 of 17 from the field and Garnett made just 3 of 11 shots. Pierce was the top rebounder with seven. "We wanted to dictate the game and I think we did that," Vaughn said. "We made them take the shot we wanted, we got a chance to rebound the basketball and we got a chance to push the ball up the floor, which is what we wanted to do." Vucevic said the Magic played well on the defensive end. "We know weve got to just keep being aggressive at that end," he said. Kidd, who was suspended for the first two games of the regular season because of a drunk driving charge, didnt like his teams performance at either end of the court, especially in the second half. The Magic shot 50 per cent in the second half, while outscooring the Nets 68-48.dddddddddddd "We didnt execute defensively when we needed to and we shot 30-something per cent," Kidd said. "We moved the ball. Guys were touching it, but we missed some wide-open looks and we made those last game (against Miami)." The Nets, who defeated two-time defending NBA champion Miami on Friday night, were embarrassed by their performance two days later. "The win against Miami doesnt mean a thing when you come here and lay an egg, which is what we did," Williams said. "We knew they were a young team and were going to play hard. We had to be ready to match their intensity and we werent. They looked like they wanted it more and that is unacceptable." The Magic (2-2) used a 17-4 run early in the third quarter to break open a close game. They led by 15 points after three quarters, then Oladipo scored six straight at the start of the fourth. His last basket was a steal off Williams and a breakaway dunk that put Orlando up 82-61 with 10:11 left. The Nets never got closer than 16 points after that. The Magics reserves outscored Brooklyns 45-30. Neither team was able to sustain momentum for more than a few possessions in the first half. The Magic started the game with a 5-0 run and that was the biggest lead of the first half for either team. There were five ties and 12 lead changes in the first 24 minutes that ended with Orlando squeezing out a 41-28 lead. Maurice Harkless started the second half with consecutive 3-pointers to propel Orlando on the 17-4 run that gave it a 58-42 lead with 7:10 left in the third quarter. Shaun Livingston replaced Williams and the Nets temporarily came to life, but couldnt sustain it. A dunk by Livingston, a 17-foot jumper from Johnson, his first basket of the game, and an end-to-end drive and dunk by Pierce cut the deficit to 61-52, but the run ended there. Oladipo scored eight straight Magic points and handed a no-look assist to Vucevic for a dunk that pushed Orlandos lead back to 15 and the Magic finished the quarter with a 74-59 lead. NO