NET NOTES

SAN ANTONIO – Kenyon Martin had the look. After a sickly game where he refused to point to his sickness as a reason for a bad Game 5, Martin vowed not to have a second straight clunker in Game 6. And to prep for his bounce-back game, he shaved his head.

But after a 3-for-23 performance last night, Martin and the Nets were knocked out of the Finals after falling Spurs 88-77 last night in Game 6.

“I shaved it yesterday. Got to get back to that warrior mentality. I should have cut it before the last game,” said Martin before last night’s loss. Martin suffered a disastrous flu-riddled Game 5 where he shot 2-of-8 and committed eight turnovers and then started shooting in Game 6 in similar fashion – he was 2-of-10 in the first half – and was very active, though statistically ineffective.

“I just picked the wrong time to have a bad game. The wrong time,” said Martin, admitting he might have been a bit hyper for last night’s Game 6 here. “I’ve never had two games in a row just like that. I was [ticked] off Friday night and I was [ticked] off when I woke up yesterday but I’ve gotten it out of my mind now . . . Everyone tried to make excuses for me, saying I’m sick, but the thing is, if I was able to play then I can’t use it as an excuse.”

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San Antonio’s zone has exposed a major flaw in the Nets’ offense: consistent perimeter shooting. That’s an area the team hopes to address in the offseason as they figure to explore the likes of free agents such as Jon Barry, Walt Williams and Eric Piatkowski.

“There’s no doubt we could us another shooter,” said team president Rod Thorn.