Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, the third-seeded Raptors will try to protect their home court in a pivotal Game 5 of their Round 1 NBA Playoffs matchup vs. the Brooklyn Nets. Watch the game on NBA TV or live stream it by clicking this link. Nets fans can hear the action on WCBS 880 while Toronto fans may do the same on TSN 1050.
With veterans like Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce populating Brooklyn's roster, Raptors head coach Dwayne Casey knows full well his team can't rely on the crowd to push them to a Game 5 victory.
"It's not going to be all smiles and bubble gum and fruitcakes tomorrow night, it's going to be a street fight," Casey said. "And that's the way we've got to come out, with that mentality."
Shooting guard DeMar DeRozan has exemplified that sentiment, leading all scorers in the series with 24.5 points per game and going toe-to-toe with All-Star Joe Johnson. "We're like a fighter who worked his butt off in training camp," DeRozan said. "He can fight, but he's going into every fight as the underdog and everybody is going against him. That's how we feel, that's our mentality."
The underdog theme is being played up heavily, despite Toronto entering the matchup as three-point favorites. Power forward Amir Johnson gleefully accepted the pressure-free position they feel they're in.
"When people doubt us, that's what we want," Johnson said. "That's what we feed off. People doubt us and think we can't do it, that's what gets us energized and that's when we prove them wrong."
For the Nets, as good as Johnson's been, they need Deron Williams to produce. He's scored under 20 points in both Nets losses, and netted just 10 in Game 4.
"He's in the driver's seat, he's our point guard," Pierce said. "We feed off of him a lot. When he's been aggressive, taking the ball to the basket and getting shots up, that seems to bode well for all of us."
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