NEW YORK - The basketball gods have spoken, with an assist from Jason Kidd. 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." Replica Vapormax China . -- Ryan Gropp scored in overtime as the Seattle Thunderbirds shut out the Spokane Chiefs 1-0 in Western Hockey League play Tuesday. Nike Vapormax Dhgate . Tensions rose in the first period when Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik hit Bruins forward Loui Eriksson with what appeared to be a clean hit. http://www.outletvapormaxireland.com/vapormax-plus-wholesale-china/vapormax-plus-mens-ireland.html .Manager Brendan Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo on Friday that Sturridge pulled his calf muscle in training as he prepared to return from a five-week layoff due to a thigh strain. Vapormax Flyknit Ebay Ireland . -- Oakland Athletics starting pitchers Jarrod Parker and A. Air Vapormax Flyknit Fake . Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris, city natives, handled the catering for teammates that begged them for the tasty postgame feast.(SportsNetwork.com) - With a chance to grab second in the Atlantic Division the Toronto Maple Leafs will have extra motivation as coach Randy Carlyle makes his return to the Honda Center to face his former team, the Anaheim Ducks tonight. Listen to the game live on TSN Radio Toronto 1050 at 10pm et. Carlyle served as head coach of the Ducks for six-plus seasons before getting fired on Nov. 31, 2011 and replaced by Boudreau. The Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007 under Carlyle, who went 273-182-61 during his time with Anaheim. The Maple Leafs currently sit third in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the fourth-place Tampa Bay Lightning and one point behind the Canadiens. Carlyle won his first matchup versus the Ducks since getting fired, a 4-2 victory at home on Oct. 22. Phil Kessel had a hat trick for Toronto and Dion Phaneuf notched a goal in the Leafs fourth straight victory over the Ducks. Toronto also has won eight of the previous 11 meetings overall and four of the last six in Anaheim. "Toronto is a great team," Boudreau told his clubs website. "They have the highest scoring line in the league, and they can skate. And, its Randys first trip back. Theyre going to be all pumped up. It should be an exciting game, and it should be a really tough game." Hiller made 19 saves in that October loss and is 0-4-0 in his career versus the Maple Leafs with a 4.84 goals against average. Jonathan Bernier made 23 saves and is 3-1-1 lifetime versus the Ducks with a 2.22 GAA and will start in goal tonight. Toronto is beginning a five-game road trip tonight and is just 12-12-7 as the guest compared to 22-11-1 at home. The Maple Leafs hit the road having gone 4-1-2 in their last seven games, winning two straight in overtime. That includes a 4-3 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Toronto led 2-0 after the first period and 3-2 with 6:26 lefft in the third period, but Philadelphia forced overtime on a goal with 2:32 on the clock.dddddddddddd Joffrey Lupul was able to secure the extra point for his club when he scored 2:21 into the extra frame. "We dont want to make a habit of blowing third-period leads, but things are going to happen and other teams are going to make plays," said Lupul. "We stuck with it and there was a good feeling on our bench going into overtime." Mason Raymond, Nazem Kadri and Jake Gardiner also lit the lamp in the win. Troy Bodie supplied two assists and Bernier made 28 stops. The Ducks, idle since Friday, have followed up a three-game winning streak with back-to-back shootout losses, giving them 93 points on the season and a four-point edge over the San Jose Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division. However, Anaheim now sits a point behind St. Louis for the most in the league after the Blues recorded a shootout victory on Sunday. The Ducks have been defeated in consecutive six-round shootouts, first falling to the Montreal Canadiens last Wednesday before a 3-2 defeat to the Pittsburgh Penguins two nights later. In the sixth round, Pittsburghs Brandon Sutter went to the backhand and lifted it high past Jonas Hiller. Ryan Getzlaf had the last chance for Anaheim, but he missed with a backhand attempt. Corey Perry had both goals in regulation for the Ducks, while Hiller turned away 15 shots in the loss. "I thought we played a great game," said Anaheim head coach Bruce Boudreau. "Take away their power play, and I think they had 10 or 11 shots, which is great. We followed our game plan to a tee. We just lost in a shootout." Anaheim lost defenseman Luca Sbisa to a lower-body injury on Friday and he may sit out tonight when Carlyle returns to Anaheim for the first time as the coach of the Maple Leafs. ' ' 'sday. ' ' '