(SportsNetwork.com) - The Miami Heat completed another exemplary regular season, but there was one team they werent able to conquer, not even in four tries. That team was the Brooklyn Nets. The two squads begin their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup Tuesday night in South Beach and the prevailing theme at the outset is can Miami, the two- time defending champs, beat the Nets? You can catch all of the action on TSN2 at 7pm et/4pm pt. "We know we can beat them, but theres a difference between regular season and the playoffs. Its going to take a collective effort," Brooklyn All-Star guard Joe Johnson said. The Nets won this seasons four regular-season matchups by a combined 12 points and three of the games were decided by a single point. Brooklyns four victories this season snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Heat. Miami swept an injured Charlotte Bobcats team in the first round. The Heat played decently, but theyve been out of action since Monday night. The long wait can work as a positive in that players can get fully healthy, but also a negative if the team loses it sharpness. "Weve been waiting around for a while," said LeBron James. "We dont have a choice, The schedule, it is what it is. Guys are definitely getting their bodies right." The Nets played Sunday afternoon and barely hung on to beat the Toronto Raptors in a Game 7 at the Air Canada Centre. They flew right to South Beach to get started on preparation for this second round. Paul Pierce blocked a Kyle Lowry attempt for the win just before the horn to preserve their season. Pierce and Kevin Garnett, two future Hall of Famers, were brought in at a steep price to give this Nets team championship credibility. With first-year head coach Jason Kidd on the sideline, the team needed leadership. The move didnt bring the kind of expected regular-season success, but the Nets are one of eight teams that can still wear the crown. "This was a very difficult series," Garnett said. "It tested everybodys will here. If anything, I think we grew up a bit during this series." Theyll need growth when they face the Heat. During the Bobcats series, James averaged 30.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.3 steals. Chris Bosh was decent versus Charlotte with 14.5 ppg, but he shot a ridiculous 69 percent from 3-point range. Dwyane Wade, who missed a lot of time in the regular season, averaged 17.5 ppg during the Charlotte sweep, which was down a touch from the campaign. The Nets backcourt of Deron Williams and Johnson has All-Star pedigree, but appeared to slip a little during the campaign. That was until the postseason hit. Johnson averaged 21.6 points against the Raptors and dominated the post against the smaller guards trying to cover him. Williams improved his play tremendously, averaging 17.1 ppg and staying aggressive throughout, at least in Brooklyns victories. Williams tweaked his chronically bad ankle in the Toronto series, but played through it. This is the third time the two franchises will meet in the postseason and the results have been one-sided. Miami swept the Nets in the first round in 2005, then dispatched them in the second round one year later, 4-1. The Heat have won nine consecutive postseason series, which is tied for the eighth-longest in NBA history. Game 2 will be in Miami on Thursday night. Air Max 90 Outlet . The San Antonio Spurs handled the conditions, and the team, and it sure helped when a suffering LeBron James couldnt make it to the finish. Cheap Air Max 95 Wholesale . I wondered how NHL coaches would feel about a playoff schedule that allowed them to open a best-of-seven series on the road, which many claim to favour, yet still gave them the precious home-ice edge for a seventh game. http://www.fakejordancheap.com/wholesale...an-4-china.html. The post-season, Pierce said repeatedly, is no time to panic. And the Heat, apparently, are nothing to fear. Wholesale Jordan 1 China . Modin, 36, tallied seven goals and three assists in 36 games with the Thrashers this season. The Sundsvall, Sweden, native has posted 232 goals and 230 assists in 894 career NHL games with Toronto, Tampa Bay, Columbus, Los Angeles and Atlanta and has appeared in 57 post-season contests, helping the Lightning capture the 2004 Stanley Cup Championship. Cheap Fake Yeezy Boost 350 . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive.Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Rick Nash and Derek Stepan each scored twice as the New York Rangers downed the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2, on Sunday. Derick Brassard had a goal and an assist, while Chris Kreider and Martin St. Louis each had two helpers for the Rangers, who have won their past two games. Henrik Lundqvist allowed two goals on 34 shots. Im real pleased with how we played this afternoon, said New York head coach Alain Vigneault. I thought we played a real solid game on both ends of the ice tonight. David Perron had a goal and an assist and Sidney Crosby also scored for the Penguins, who have lost their past two games. When you play like that you dont give yourself a good chance of winning, said Crosby. We have to come out with better efforts against teams like this, because they were real motivated to play this game and we werent. Marc-Andre Fleury allowed four goals on 17 shots and was pulled in the second period for Thomas Greiss, who stopped 13-of-14 shots the rest of the way. It took all of 26 seconds for the Rangers to get on the board, as Kris Letang misplayed a puck at the right point in the New York end, and Nash went the other way on a 2-on-1. Skating down the left wing, Nash opted to shoot and beat Fleury to the short side for a 1-0 advantage. Just under six minutes later, New York took a 2-0 lead as a left circle faceoff win saw Brassard eventually get the puck at the right point wwhere he slapped it home for his 12th of the season.dddddddddddd Skating on the power play, the Pens got one back as Crosby shot home a Perron feed at 15:08 of the first for his 15th goal of the season. New York, though, got the goal back at 2:39 of the second when a left circle faceoff win saw Nash throw the puck on net where it tipped off the stick of Rob Scuderi and in. It was a 4-1 game just three minutes later as St. Louis sent a pass from the right circle to the top of the left circle where Stepan beat Fleury with a heavy wrister for a power-play goal. Fleury was pulled from the net after the goal in favor of Greiss. The Pens made it a two-goal game at 4:16 of the third as Perron split the defense down the middle and saw the puck slide in between the pads of Lundqvist as he was being pulled down. Stepan, though, gave his team the three-goal edge back two minutes later when he finished off a turnover in the neutral zone with a wrister into the left corner for his eighth goal of the year. Game Notes New York hosts Ottawa on Tuesday ... Pittsburgh plays in Philadelphia on Tuesday ... The Rangers posted a 3-0-1 mark against the Penguins this season ... Pittsburgh was 1-for-3 on the power play, while New York was 1-for-6 ... After the game, the Rangers announced that theyve agreed to terms on a contract extension with defenseman Marc Staal. ' ' '