NET NOTES
SAN ANTONIO – Kenyon Martin had the look. After a sickly game in which he refused to point to his sickness as a cause, Martin vowed not to have two clunkers in a row. And to prep for his bounce-back game, he shaved his head.
“I shaved it yesterday. Got to get back to that warrior mentality. I should have cut it before the last game,” said Martin, who suffered a disastrous flu-riddled Game 5, shooting 2-of-8 and committing eight turnovers.
“I’ve just got to get out and play. I just picked the wrong time to have a bad game. The wrong time,” said Martin, who admitted he might have been a bit hyper for last night’s Game 6 here. “Probably. 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 morning, 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. . . . I had ample opportunity to play well.”
San Antonio’s zone has exposed a major flaw in the Nets’ offense: inconsistent perimeter shooting.
“There’s no doubt we could us another shooter, maybe to alleviate some of the pressure,” said team president Rod Thorn. “[In Game 5], there was a time in the third period that we went to our three smaller guys and we took them out of the zone, knocked them out of the zone, because we made some shots. Jason made some shots around the perimeter and they went out of their zone. Overall, and particularly in that second period, their zone has really bothered us.
“We need to be able to spread the court more by making some shots, have somebody who can make shots and you’ve got to come guard him. . . . I think that’s one of the things we’ll certainly be looking for.”
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Byron Scott on the shape of his team before Game 6: “Our morale is still pretty good right now. Guys were joking on the bus, pretty good on the plane.” . . . Jason Kidd on keeping the focus simple: “We know where we’re at, we know at 3-2 we have to find some way to get this thing to Wednesday night. It’s pretty simple. We have to win. The guys are still loose. We know what’s at stake.” . . . Richard Jefferson on what the Nets needed last night: “Everybody working on all cylinders, myself, Kenyon, J-Kidd. . . . If we can get everybody open all cylinders, that’s going to open up things.”
