Raps look for respectable treatment

— -- TORONTO -- The Toronto Raptors didn't sound a lot like a No. 3-seeded team on Monday.

Down 1-0 in the first round to the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto played the "nobody believes in us" card repeatedly. To an extent, it's true -- no one expected the Raptors to have such a successful regular season, and this group overcame all sorts of trade-and-tanking talk in December. After Toronto won 48 games, many predicted that the four multi-time All-Stars in the Nets' starting lineup meant the Raptors would have a short playoff run. Part of the rationale there was the perception that Toronto's young players wouldn't get the benefit of the doubt from the referees.