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TORONTO - On Saturday afternoon, less than three years after winning an unlikely championship together in Dallas, Dwane Casey and Jason Kidd will sit on opposite ends of the Air Canada Centre sideline, getting set to make their postseason debut as head coaches. Just ahead of tip-off, as their teams stretch, shoot around and a sellout crowd - draped in white - files into the building, the two coaches will meet at centre court. Theyll shake hands, exchange a few words then return to their respective benches in the hopes of sending the other home for an early summer vacation. They havent spoken since finding out that the Raptors and Nets would face off in round one of the Eastern Conference playoffs, which isnt to say theres a lack of mutual respect between the two. On the contrary, theres actually a whole lot of it. Friendship is for the offseason, Casey always boasts. Until then, these former colleagues have a job to do, and theyre in each others way. Theyve traveled down dissimilar paths to get to this point. Casey, who celebrated his 57th birthday on Thursday, has been coaching in the NBA for over two decades. After serving as a long-time assistant under George Karl in Seattle, he spent a couple seasons as the head man with the Timberwolves, where he coached Nets veteran and future hall of famer Kevin Garnett. In 2011, his third season as Rick Carlisles lead assistant in Dallas, Casey helped guide the experienced Mavericks to an unexpected championship, with Kidd starting at point guard. Kidd, now 41, was in season 17 of his illustrious 19-year career. He was a retired NBA player for 10 days before becoming a head coach this past summer. "First of all, I texted him and [asked] him if hes lost his mind," Casey joked, asked about Kidds move to the bench earlier this season. The Nets controversial decision to hand the reins over to Kidd, fresh off his final campaign in New York, was met with more criticism than any coaching hire in recent memory. When his first season as a bench boss got off to a rocky start many called for his head, but he had a steadfast supporter in Casey, who knew it was only a matter of time before Kidd and his veteran Nets team rocketed back to top of the East. "Hes going to be a good coach because he was a computer on the floor and he just has to transfer that to his players," Casey said ahead of a late November meeting between the two teams. The Nets were 3-10 going into that game. "It takes time." "Hes one of the toughest minded guys Ive been around and Ive coached, and Ive been around some strong minded guys, but he was definitely one of them," Casey added prior to their next meeting, two months later. The Nets, 10-21 on Jan. 1, had won five in a row before losing in Toronto that night. "I knew mentally he was going to stay strong and stay into it and it would be a matter of time." Brooklyn would go on to finish the campaign with the second best record among Eastern Conference teams in 2014 and Kidd became a two-time Coach of the Month winner. As Casey met with the media Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours before Game 1, the Raptors coach was caught off guard when one reporter pointed out that he and Kidd would be sharing their playoff head coaching debuts. "I never thought about that," he said in earnest, but hes not the least bit surprised to see his counterpart in the position that hes in. "Jason was always a step ahead of the curve," said Casey, the Easts Coach of the Month for December. "I think point guards are coaches on the floor, they should be. Theyve gone through their whole career figuring out things on the fly, on the court. So I think thats the difference in Jason. Jason has been a thinker his whole career and hes doing a good job with Brooklyn." For these old friends, this series should turn into something of a chess match. The Nets rookie coach has a veteran-laden roster at his disposal. A big factor in his teams 2014 reversal of fortunes has been Kidds commitment to a small lineup, starting a couple of point guards in the backcourt and using Paul Pierce as their mobile, perimeter-oriented power forward. "I think they established an identity, much like we did," Casey told TSN.ca in an exclusive conversation Friday. "I think putting Pierce at the four position was a huge turnaround for them. Solidifying the smaller lineup really helped them." Casey has the benefit of a versatile roster. With Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas, the Raptors can go against the grain and put pressure on the visiting Nets with a size and strength advantage or they can match-up using their own version of the small lineup. "Philosophy is personnel driven," Casey wisely pointed out. With Johnson and Patrick Patterson - two versatile forwards who can rebound and also step out and defend on the perimeter - Torontos coach is confident his team can utilize both their small and big units with success in this series. "Its going to be huge," he said of that versatility. "If we stay big weve got to really pound the boards and take advantage of it if they stay small but at the same time theyre such a lethal three-point shooting team. Its hard for our bigs, with our mentality to get out and guard the three-point line in those situations so were going to have to figure that out as far as when we do go small, who has the advantage. If we have an advantage on the boards or inside well try to do that but if were getting killed with three-point shooting then well have to make some adjustments." Caseys quiet confidence and poise has rubbed off on his team all season but those characteristics have never been more important than they are now. By now youve heard of their inexperience, Caseys embraced it because, what choice does he have? They cant pretend like theyve been somewhere they havent, they wont pretend to be something theyre not. If you want to count them out because of it, Casey understands, but he doesnt advise it. "I dont want to diminish [experience], its very important," he said. "In any walk of life its important if youre going to do a job at a high level to have as much experience as you can possibly have. We are who we are, we cant change it. The way our guys get experience is to go through this. But at the end of the day you still have to go out and play the game. Theres been a lot of young teams that beat older teams in the history of the game and were ready for that challenge. I think were better with a chip on our shoulder, being the desperate team. I think we struggle when were the favourite so I like that part about it. I dont even talk about it to our players, about experience. Hey, they dont know any better, so lets go play the game." X_Plr Shoes NZ . -- One shot came out of bottom of a cactus, the other from the base of a desert bush with rocks scattered around it. Adidas Falcon New Zealand . Jeter doubled high off the left-field wall and scored on Jacoby Ellsburys first hit in pinstripes in the fifth. Hiroki Kuroda (1-1) pitched 6 1-3 sharp innings in the Yankees 112th opener in New York. In what manager Joe Girardi said would be a season-long lovefest for Jeter, the shortstop was cheered every step of the way by an adoring crowd of 48, 142 -- even when his double-play grounder back to Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2) scored Solarte in the third inning for the first run. http://www.nmdshoesnz.com/adidas-alphabounce-cheap-nz.html . The mood in Seattle was electrified as the parade featuring the NFL champions began near the Space Needle and made its way to CenturyLink Field, the home of the team. 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In fact, thats how the Brady-Belichick era was born back in 2001 when New England was coming off a 5-11 season, began the season 0-2 and had its starting quarterback in Drew Bledsoe knocked out, forcing an apparently talent-poor team to rely on sixth-round backup, Tom Brady. What happened next defied all logic as New England won the Super Bowl, its first of three in four seasons, thus ushering in a period of dominance over the AFC East which continues to this day. Since then, the Patriots success has been built on several key principles: - That New England does not need a star-studded cast to win - That it can turn over a good portion of its roster year after year without missing a beat - And that the combination of Brady and Belichick can overcome whatever weaknesses exist on the roster Here are the problems with that right now. Turning over a roster from year to year or being unwilling to pay for top-level offensive talent means relying heavily on the draft or free agents who fly under the radar of other teams. That was a Belichick specialty for years when the teams front office was equipped with such people as Thomas Dimitroff and Scott Pioli, both of whom now work in the front office of the Atlanta Falcons. New England has used a high peercentage of its recent draft picks on defence, apparently believing that Brady is good enough on his own to make mediocre talent superior.dddddddddddd Similarly, most of their highest paid players, besides Brady, play on defence. New Englands dominance and ability to get away with weaknesses on its roster is in part a function of playing in the AFC East where Buffalo, Miami and the Jets have made simply being competent enough to get to the top of the division. And then there is Brady who is still a very, very good NFL quarterback but is at the age where many of the all-time greats have begun a steep decline. Sure the talent around him isnt what it once was but its been a few years since he had Randy Moss to throw to and somehow the Patriots never looked this bad. Brady looks uncomfortable and yet the coaches he has surrounding him in Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels are the same ones who helped his offence become the highest of all time back in 2007. Brady right now has the lowest completion percentage for pass attempts of over 10 yards of anyone in the NFL right now and the highest off-target percentage in the entire league. His completion percentage last season was his lowest since 2003 and is worse this season. On a good team, surrounded by elite talent, Tom Brady could still be a winner. There have been many seasons of late when people were ready to write-off New England, only to see them show up in the AFC Championship Game once again. But if Belichick can get this group that far this season, it may indeed be time to crown him the greatest NFL coach of all time. ' ' '