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Cheers! Nets, Raptors begin London series

Mar 4, 2011 - 4:05 PM (Sports Network) - A pair of teams battling for the cellar in the Atlantic Division usually isn't all that newsworthy.

Things will be a little different Friday, however, as Toronto and New Jersey make basketball history when they kick off a two-game series at London's O2 Arena. The back-to-back games will mark the first-ever regular season NBA games held in Europe. The Nets will play the home team during the set, which will conclude with another contest on Saturday.

New Jersey and Toronto are the only two NBA franchises to have foreign owners.

The Nets hop the pond in the midst of a six-game losing streak and are now just one-half game ahead of the Raptors in the Atlantic's battle for the basement. The team's latest setback came on Monday, a tough 104-103 overtime setback to Phoenix in Newark.

For the second consecutive night, Channing Frye's late basket gave the Suns a win in that one. This time his three-pointer from the top of the circle gave the Suns a 104-103 overtime victory over New Jersey. However, unlike his buzzer beater to top the Pacers in overtime on Sunday, this one with 6.6 seconds left came with a bit more drama.

Deron Williams attempted a bank shot in the final second, and as Kris Humphries redirected the tip-in towards the basket, the clock ran out. The shot appeared to be in unison with the final buzzer, and the referees had to go to a video replay to call off the basket.

"I didn't get a chance to look at it," Humphries said of his last second tip. "But from what I heard [the referees] couldn't tell so they had to go with the ruling on the floor."

Brook Lopez paced New Jersey with a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds. Anthony Morrow added 22 points, including 5-of-10 from long range, and Williams, who dealt with a cut on his left palm throughout the entire game, scored 13 and dished out 18 assists in the loss.

"It's starting to mesh," Lopez said. "I thought we played pretty well against the Suns."

Toronto, meanwhile, finished a four-game homestand on a winning note Tuesday when Jose Calderon scored a season-high 22 points, dished out 16 assists and pulled down seven rebounds as the Raptors fended off a late rally by New Orleans to win 96-90 at Air Canada Centre.

DeMar DeRozan added 17 points and Sonny Weems scored 14 points as the Raptors closed out the residency at 2-2. Andrea Bargnani, who missed Toronto's game on Sunday with flu-like symptoms, had 14 points while James Johnson finished with 13 points and five boards.

"We played very good team defense," Calderon said. "My teammates were always there for me."

Although these are the first NBA regular season games in England this is the sixth consecutive year that the league has made a trip to Europe. London itself has hosted eight games featuring 10 NBA teams since 1993 as part of preseason friendlies.

Overall, the NBA has played 54 games featuring 24 teams in 18 European cities over the last two decades. The O2 has hosted four NBA exhibition games since 2007.

This will mark the Raptors' first visit to the United Kingdom, while the Nets visited London in 2008, playing the Miami Heat as part of NBA Europe Live. The Raptors last traveled abroad for NBA Europe Live 2007, where they held training camp in Treviso, Italy, followed by preseason games in Rome and Madrid.

The NBA has not set a timeline of putting a permanent team in Europe, and Bargnani, an Italian native, isn't convinced there should be one.

"I don't think its going to happen," Bargnani said after landing in London. "The flight was long, the jet lag is tough. I hope it's not going to happen. It's more fun to come over here once a year like this, but to come here often with our schedule is pretty tough."

The Nets' Sasha Vujacic, a Slovene, is also concerned about travel but was more open to the idea of an NBA team in Europe.

"Honestly, travel is terrible. It takes a lot out of you," Vujacic said. " " (But) I think it's about time the game is so interesting. It's so easy to fall in love with it."