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TORONTO — Sam Mitchell is a sharp-dressed man, no doubt about it. He was as a player and is one of the best-dressed coaches on the sideline.

After Sunday's practice, Mitchell, in his laid-back Toronto gear, had fun with the local media for what they were wearing on their body and their face and no one was safe.

Mitchell killed them for their choice of footwear, shorts and facial hair. At one point, he said, "Don't walk down the street together in those shorts. There will be a white out."

Obviously, the Raptors coach wasn't all broken up by his team's Game 1 loss to the Nets, but the local guys say this the way Mitchell is. He likes to have fun and joke around, but he's intense when he needs to be.

Mitchell stuck around long after practice talking and messing with TV and print reporters. There still is another practice and a shoot-around for the Raptors to prepare for Game 2, and they don't seem overly worried about their 96-91 loss in Game 1.

"There's nothing that we did that we can't correct," Mitchell said. "There are things that we did that we just haven't made those mistakes in a while."

Mitchell also said, "We were aggressive early in the game [but] we took some bad shots and I think a lot of that was nerves and getting caught in the flow of the game and then late in the game, when we had the openings, we just didn't attack."

While Mitchell was talking, T.J. Ford and Luke Jackson were having a half-court shooting contest. It seemed Ford won, but I don't know for sure as I continued to listen to Mitchell even after the tape recorders and cameras went off.

The Raptors expect Game 2 to be different.

They believe they got the first-game jitters out of their system and the first-time playoff participants will be better equipped to face whatever happens in Game 2.

The Raptors worked on their offense against the zone that was effective for the Nets in Game 1. They, of course, think they figured it out.

"We just had to see it on film," Chris Bosh said. "We have to see where they are vulnerable in the zone because we helped them look a little bit better because we didn't have the right spacing. We weren't where we were supposed to be."

Now that Mitchell thinks he's fixed his team he's working on the reporters' wardrobe.

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Al Iannazzone covers the Nets for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)

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Saturday, April 21: Posted at 6:46 p.m. ET

TORONTO — There was a time when the Nets would crumble in games like this, when Vince Carter can't throw it in Lake Ontario, and when a 15-point lead dwindles to one.

Earlier this season, you would have almost expected the Nets to cave in and lose. But playoff veterans Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson wouldn't let them. Neither would playoff novices Bostjan Nachbar and Mikki Moore.

The Nets didn't let the loud Toronto crowd or their own offensive failings — 12 of 13 to start the fourth — bother them. They made the necessary plays down the stretch to hold off the Raptors and take Game 1, 96-91, at Air Canada Centre Saturday afternoon.

Suddenly, it seems the Nets are big-game tested and big-game ready. Perhaps playing all those meaningful games late in the season helped because they showed a great sense of urgency, and stayed poised and focused when things easily could have gone the other way.

The Nets did it in the Chicago game in the regular season finale when they needed to win to secure the sixth seed. And the Nets did it on Saturday when the stakes were higher, the stage was bigger and seemingly the entire city was booing Carter.

After the Raptors cut it to one with 4:10 left, they came up empty on three of their next four trips. The Nets, meanwhile, scored on six of seven possessions after Jose Calderon made it 83-82.

The biggest shot belonged to Nachbar, who had a strong regular season and an even better finish. He continued his solid play with 16 points, including that — for all intents and purposes — game-clinching three with 2:43 left.

"I didn't put any pressure on myself thinking 'This is a big shot, I got to make it,'" Nachbar said.

"Boki made a big three in the corner," Kidd said. "He's done that for us all season."

Everyone played a part in this Nets' win.

Jefferson led everyone with 28. Kidd flirted with a triple-double. Moore knocked down two foul shots with 15.3 seconds left to put the Nets up six. Coach Lawrence Frank's decision to play zone resulted in a high success rate. And you can't forget about Carter.

He only was 5-for-19 with 16 points, but his nine fourth-quarter points led the Nets. He scored seven in the final 5:18 and four in the last 1:59.

The biggest thing, though, was the Nets' showed their experience against this playoff neophyte. They looked big-game tested and big-game ready.

STATS OF THE GAME
• Nachbar (16 points), Moore (nine) and Antoine Wright (six) scored playoff career highs. Marcus Williams (six) and Josh Boone (three) did, too, but they're rookies.

• The Nets outscored Toronto 46-22 in the paint and 20-8 edge in transition points.

• Kidd had eight assists in the first quarter and 11 by halftime.

• Ford scored 21 points and never played in the fourth period.

• Through three quarters, Carter had one more point than Jason Collins (six).

STARS OF THE GAME
Jefferson and Kidd (15 assists, 10 rebounds, eight points).

QUOTEBOOK
"There was a lot made about Vince. But in the regular season we went through this before. Our game plan was to get out and see if we could some pressure on their fast break. If they miss get out and see if we can some numbers. RJ was ahead and he finished and when we do that we're very dangerous." — Kidd on Carter being the focus.

"It was wonderful. It was wonderful." — Carter on the reception he received.

"I was ready to play. Playoffs and the atmosphere coming back here with everybody, it's always great. The welcome-ness is always exciting. It's part of the sport. I just wanted to come out and play good basketball." — Carter on how he felt.

"I think Toronto's defense impacted it. The fans are great here. No one has problems with the fans. We're out here to win games. It's important not to take credit away from both teams. Let's focus on playoff basketball." — Frank on whether the fans impacted Carter

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Al Iannazzone covers the Nets for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)

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Friday, April 20: Posted at 5:01 p.m. ET

TORONTO — The big-time Hollywood screenwriters couldn't have scripted it any better if they tried.

The Nets' fantastic finish and the Wizards' collapse gave us Vince Carter: The Return.

The Nets' first-round series against Toronto has everything that a big-screen drama — or small-screen one for that matter — would have.

You have a one-time hero coming back as a villain. There's intrigue, anger, motivation, betrayal, the chance for redemption or revenge on international soil, and in the end either an entire country is going to feel euphoric or a huge letdown.

Carter is looking for redemption when the best-of-seven series begins Saturday in the Air Canada Centre, looking to quiet the crowd that will be carrying signs, booing and chanting that he stinks.

He felt he gave everything he had to the Toronto organization. He was the face of the franchise and Canada basketball for such a long time. But a series of injuries led to questions about his heart and desire, and eventually led to him asking out of Toronto.

Carter can say all he wants that the boos don't bother him. But as much as the Raptors' fans feel betrayed by Carter, Carter probably feels he deserves to be treated better by the fans for putting Canada basketball on the map.

The Raptors have only won one playoff series, and that was because of Carter. They almost got to the East finals that 2001 postseason, but Carter missed a jumper that everyone blamed on him attending his UNC graduation at earlier that day.

Now, the fans who used to fill the arena wearing Raptors' No. 15 jerseys want nothing more than for Carter to fall flat on his smiling face.

Let's be real. The Raptors have had a nice season, but they are not going to win the NBA championship. But if they win this series, for the fans it will be like getting the title.

Carter wouldn't answer questions Friday about how he will be treated and what his approach is going up there when 20,000 hate him. His answers ranged from, "I don't care," to "Can someone ask me another question," to "So what?" to "I can't answer that."

Carter, no doubt, would rather his play do his talking. It will be an emotional time for him, for Toronto and of course for both teams.

The underlying thing is the Nets and Raptors want to win this series for the right reasons. But Carter coming full circle and returning to Canada only adds the intrigue and makes this series spicier.

Let's just hope there isn't an international incident.

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Thursday, April 19: Posted at 12:20 a.m. ET

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The sixth seed was the farthest thing from the Nets' minds several weeks ago.

When one Net was told the writers wanted the sixth spot because at the time it meant a trip to Miami, that player said, "Good luck."

But the Nets finished the season sixth thanks to an impressive 10-3 end to the season after Wednesday's 106-97 win over Chicago. Too bad, though, it doesn't mean a trip to South Beach anymore.

The Nets are going to Toronto. Here's a little of what Vince Carter is going to hear "BOOOOOOOOO!!!" and that's being nice.

Seriously, the Nets deserve credit for capitalizing on a situation. That's not to say they shouldn't have won the games they let slip away earlier in the season.

But the Nets saw the teams around them crumbing - be it because of injuries, a lack of talent or lack of team discipline - and saw they had a chance to move north.

They were 31-38 on March 23. They were seven games behind the Wizards at the time.

The Nets ended up .500 and took the sixth seed over Washington because their superstars played big, they received big contributions from unsung guys named Mikki Moore, Bostjan Nachbar and Josh Boone and with a little luck at the misfortune of the Wizards.

Washington lost All-Stars Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas in a three-day stretch and the Wizards fell apart.

"We were very, very fortunate," coach Lawrence Frank said. "But at the same time we have to give our guys a great deal of credit because they had many times they could have thrown their up in the air and say, 'You know what, it's one of those years.' But they didn't."

And they didn't back in either. They applied the pressure on the Wizards, Magic and everyone around them by winning the games they had to win.

The Nets beat the Wizards twice in that stretch, giving them the tiebreaker that they needed. Washington finished with the same record as the Nets, but New Jersey got the sixth spot due to a 4-0 head-to-head record.

"As a team we just felt that if we took care of ourselves, we could win ball games and everything else would take care of itself," Jason Kidd said. "And that's what we did for the month of April."

No one expected or thought the Nets could finish sixth, but the did. Too bad, though, it doesn't mean a trip to South Beach anymore.

STATS OF THE GAME
** Carter was the only Net to appear in all 82 games.

** The Nets are one of four teams in the playoffs for at least the sixth straight time. The others are the Pistons, Spurs and Mavericks.

** After being outscored 71-41 by the Bulls' three perimeter players 13 nights ago, Carter, Richard Jefferson and Jason Kidd matched Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng 50-50 Wednesday night.

* Mikki Moore shot 8-for-11 and won the NBA Field Goal shooting title, hitting on 60.9 percent of his shots.

STARS OF THE GAME
Moore got the Nets off to a fast start and Carter was big late, playing point guard and feeding Josh Boone (15 points) inside and knocking down huge shots. Moore ended with 22 points, Carter with 24, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

QUOTEBOOK
"The season series was tied at 2-2. So I think it should be a good series. We feel good about ourselves first and foremost for turning our season around. The last 20 games the guys really had a different mindset. We focused in on this team and what needed to be done and left all the outside stuff outside just by believing in each other and defending and just being patient. Now it's the second season. It should be fun."
— Carter on playing Toronto

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Tuesday, April 17: Posted at 5:40 p.m. ET

The Nets' goal at the start of the season wasn't to finish .500 and be seeded sixth or seventh. But they had to adjust their regular-season ambitions because of all of the injuries and other issues that plagued them.

Now .500 is a goal that they can reach with a win Wednesday over Chicago. They also reached a mini-goal, which could prove major, by beating New York Monday night.

The Nets' best shot to reach the Eastern Conference finals - and I'm not saying they will - was to avoid an eighth-place finish because of the bracket.

If you're eighth, you play the Pistons. If somehow you survive that series - doubtful - you likely have Miami next. By finishing at least seventh, you have to worry about the Raptors and either the Bulls and Cavaliers - depending on who gets the second seed.

In no way is that an easy road, but it's much easier than going through Detroit and Miami - who together have represented the East in the last three NBA Finals.

Looking at the other three: the Raptors have won just one playoff series in their franchise's lives and that was with Vince Carter leading them. The Bulls haven't won a playoff series since Michael Jordan's second retirement following the 1997-98 season. The Cavaliers have won one round in 13 years, last year.

You throw out ancient history, yes. But recent history suggests the Nets, who will learn their first-round opponent Wednesday night, are the most experienced of the four teams and have had the most success.

If they finish sixth and play Toronto in the first round, they could win that series and then see what happens against either Chicago or Cleveland. By then, though, if the Nets are playing still they will be one of the hottest teams in the league and definitely playing their best basketball.

"This is the right time to put everything together mentally and physically, going into the playoffs, if you want to have any chance," Jason Kidd said.

Carter is playing his best basketball now, which is a good sign for the Nets. Kidd has been solid throughout.

If Jefferson plays more consistently and the Nets do a better job at hitting the defensive boards - their bigs have to play big - they have a chance to win some games when the playoffs start.

Finishing seventh or eighth wasn't the goal in October. The Nets had higher expectations. But they avoided the more difficult half of the bracket with their strong finish.

The Nets are in the half of the bracket most expected them to be. Only you figured they would host a first round series. Now winning on the road becomes key.