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raptors 105, nets 89

Toronto Raptors' Kyle Lowry, front, drives to the hoop in front of the Brooklyn Nets' Cory Jefferson during first half of Wednesday’s game at the Air Canada Centre.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

It wasn't a playoff game. It was just one of 82 regular season NBA games on the Toronto Raptors' schedule, one against a foe sporting an unimpressive 10-13 record. Yet it felt like something a little bit more.

The Brooklyn Nets visited Toronto on Wednesday for the first time since eliminating the Raptors in their first-round playoff series seven months ago. The Eastern Conference-leading Raptors toppled another in a slew of squads struggling under the .500 mark, dismantling the Nets 105-89, to improve to 20-6. Yet ESPN was there to broadcast the game across the U.S. -- the first time Toronto had hosted the network for a regular season game since 2008. And Drake was there, declaring the Nets a rival.

While pundits called last season's Nets the experienced squad during that playoff series, this year's Brooklyn squad has been called old, injury-plagued and non-athletic.  The Nets are the fourth-oldest team in the NBA, which isn't in itself a bad thing, as long as you don't play old (just look at the league's oldest squads: the Memphis Grizzlies Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs).  But this year's Nets sit eight games behind the Raptors in the Atlantic Division. If the playoffs began right now, the Nets would barely squeak in as a No.8 seed.

Two of the biggest villains from that heated playoff series have left Brooklyn. Cocky, young first-year coach Jason Kidd jumped ship for Milwaukee.  Paul Pierce signed a big free agent deal in Washington, the outspoken veteran of playoff heroics, who smiled up at booing Raptor fans and tossed them his headband after his fourth-quarter heroics stole Game 1 for Brooklyn, and then delivered the heart-breaking swat that denied Kyle Lowry the series winning basket in Game 7.

While Pierce was nowhere to be seen Wednesday night, that crushing moment seemed to be infused into the air like a hint of aftershave. While the lingering what-ifs that sprung from that defining play haven't defined this year's Raptors, they've lingered in a galvanizing way. Toronto's players and coaches analysed it from every angle, took the time they needed to heal from it, learn from it, fuel from it.

"For myself, that Game 7 was definitely on my mind from the time I woke up this morning," said Patrick Patterson. "I'm definitely happy we went out there and won the game. It was a bit of revenge, and even though it was a different team with different personnel, it was still a great environment."

With players like James Johnson and Lou Williams now on Toronto's roster, it's amusing to imagine how Game 7 could be different if it unfolded this season.

"I think it has helped us now to have been through some adversity, we don't give in to it, we keep fighting," said coach Dwane Casey. "I think that's what a playoff experience does for young players – teaches you how to play with that kind of physicality, how to play in tough situations with a lot on the line and you learn to play every possession like it's a playoff Game 7 possession and you know how it feels. You have less of those during the regular season after that experience."

Wednesday's rematch didn't have the anxiety-filled, arena-shaking atmosphere of the playoffs. Still, it had a touch of something. Darren Williams still zigged through the key; Joe Johnson still perplexed while dumping in 17 points; and the towering Mason Plumlee was more of a nuisance than he had been last spring, rambling for 23 points and eight boards. The fans revived that familiar 'Brooklyn Sucks' chant.

The Raptors were down and charged back for a slender one-point lead by half-time, before exploding to outscore the Nets 29-16 in the fourth quarter. Lowry led the way with 20 points and 12 assists; while Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and ten rebounds, and Patterson, Amir Johnson, and Greivis Vasquez each contributed 13 apiece.

"I think if we have a rivalry at all, it should be with the Nets," said Drake, the team's global ambassador, who said he specifically chose the game versus Brooklyn to hold his Drake Night at Air Canada Centre.

The sting that came from that shortcoming has set a new standard in Toronto. Experts aren't afraid to project this team as a contender to make the NBA Finals. Did that crushing denial by Brooklyn give the Raptors a chip on their collective shoulders?

"I don't know if it's a chip," said Casey. "But it's experience, and that's what we've been preaching here: growing."

The Raptors travel to Detroit to face the Pistons on Friday, before returning home Sunday to host the New York Knicks.

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