Bring on Carter

The rest of the Raptors games promise to be a snore fest, but things are getting very interesting in the East. The New Jersey Nets are making a charge for 6th place in the East and a first round date with the Raptors. This would be a great first round series and would offer a chance for Chris Bosh and the Raptors to show Vince Carter how stupid he was for leaving. I don’t care if Washington is the easier team to play, in fact, it is better for the Raptors to get meaningful playoff experience by playing a challenging opponent.

A Raptors/Nets playoff series has the potential to make this on of the best rivalries in the East and generate a lot of basketball interest in Canada. There is nothing like hatred when trying to win new fans and there are few players easier for Raptors fans to hate than Carter; just as Mo Pete.

My concern is that if we play the Nets we might lose and I hate when they lose to Carter. Normally, I am supremely confident about the Raptors chances against any team but they don’t match up well against the Nets. Richard Jefferson has been one of the few players in the NBA that can effectively guard Chris Bosh. As I have noted before, Richardson seems to be able to make for the size difference with his speed and, in Bosh’s defense, everyone has opponents who have their number.

Guarding the “Big Three” of Kidd, Carter and Jefferson is going to be a tough challenge without Garbajosa in the lineup. You can put Mo Pete on Carter without having serious concerns that Peterson will get badly burned by Carter. Those two seem to have sibling relationship with Carter playing the dominant role and does anyone really want to see Morris Peterson crying on TV?

There is still a good chance that this series will never happen and Toronto will face Washington and the Net will play the Bulls. I think that most Raptor fans would prefer this and when first presented with this scenario, so did I. But let’s be real here, the Raptors are not going to win an NBA championship this year. What they need is playoff experience against good teams to help them build the type of championship character that is required to take on Western Conference teams. They can do that this year and what better way to put to rest the ghosts of the Carter years than to beat the man who left them for dead?