The NBA Playoffs standings has the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors looking to go up 3-2 in their first round series with Game 5 on Wednesday, while the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs are also tied 2-2 and the late game as the Portland Trail Blazers looking to end their series with the Houston Rockets after being up 3-1 and they can close it out 4-1 with a win at the Toyota Center to avoid a Game 6.
The Nets and Raptors series has done back and forth and the teams have alternated wins and losses after Brooklyn won the opening game and now it returns to Canada for Game 5. The Raptors are a younger team and the longer the series goes the more it will favor Toronto and the way DeMar DeRozan is playing, the Nets need to find a way to shut him down or the series could be over. The team wants to avoid a Game 7 and that requires winning Game 5 and the winner of the matchup goes on to win the series at over an 80 percent clip and that would be huge for the Nets.
Brooklyn won two of the first three games before the Raptors won Game 4 and the team had Joe Johnson lead in the first game with 24 points and he has been solid for the Nets in the series. DeRozan had a rough game in the opening matchup, but since then he has been on fire and he scored 30 points in back to back games and then had 24 in the matchup on Sunday and now he will be key for the Raptors as they play on Wednesday night. Patrick Patterson has played well along with Jonas Valanciunas and the big V has led the team in rebounding in three of the past four games and while Kyle Lowry has been up and down, the team has gotten some nice play from Greivis Vasquez.
The teams play on Wednesday on NBATV and that game starts up at 7:30 and comes before Game 6 in Brooklyn and that will be at 7 pm on Friday before a potential Game 7 if necessary in Toronto on Sunday. The Clippers won on Tuesday night along with the Grizzlies and now they are both up 3-2 over the Warriors and the Thunder and the Game 6 matchups come on Thursday night.
The rest of the games on Wednesday include the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs and that game will be at 7 pm, while the Blazers and the Rockets are the late game. Portland comes in with a 3-1 lead in the series and now they can close things out in Game 5 and they would be the first team in the west to advance. The teams have games on Wednesday and the next matchups will be on Friday and the Portland game on that date is if necessary.
Check here for the standings and playoffs schedule for the NBA.
