KENYON Martin heard the one Wednesday where the career wimp accused one of the strongest of the NBA strong forwards of being a fake. “It’s funny actually, it’s hilarious,” said Martin.
The Knicks, down 2-0, no scorers beyond Stephon Marbury and no chance, had no choice as the series shifted to the Garden but to improv with Tim Thomas on the bench. Martin was laughing so hysterically at the sight, he thought the Knicks’ (Mr.) small forward should be at The Improv.
Thomas had been an utter riot in asking the Knicks to start a riot. But before the Nets, once one of the silliest franchises ever, laughed last again last night, they were the victims of one of the bigger practical jokes in recent NBA playoff history.
Frank Williams was doing a job on Jason Kidd. As big a giggle as were Games 1 and 2, we wouldn’t Kidd you about this. The Nets’ point guard had two points and two assists 27 minutes into a game the Knicks actually would stay in until the end.
Of course, they were doomed to fail regardless, because the creme de la creme of point guards rose to the occasion for the 13th straight time the Nets have taken the floor in an Eastern Conference playoff game.
Richard Jefferson had 17 points, 10 assists and despite four misses down the stretch, still probably was the Nets’ best player start to finish. Martin made the big plays on both ends at the end. All that said, the Nets didn’t get going until Kidd got going.
He drained a 20 footer to cut the Knicks’ biggest lead, four, to 44-42. He fed Martin for consecutive dunks, hit a 3, went inside out to Kerry Kittles for another 3 before Kidd hit one himself to stretch the lead to nine.
Kidd leaned in to draw foul after foul. At 75-71, Nets, he got back to force Marbury to come up short on what could have been a breakaway layup off his steal. At 77-76 with 42 seconds remaining, Kidd saved a near Hardaway steal from Jefferson, snatching the ball back before the Knick could get full control and feeding Jefferson, who led Martin for the three-point play that put the Nets up four.
Kidd missed the second of two free throws with 18 seconds left that could have saved more anxiety, but nobody’s perfect. Certainly nobody was last night in one ugly game won by the team that stayed confident while going 10 minutes without a field goal in the full understanding it had Jason Kidd and the Knicks did not.
The Nets won with their “B” game, largely on their “D” game and because the ball still kept getting into the right hands until they finally put it away.
“A lot of playoff games are won by girt and toughness,” said coach Lawrence Frank. “We found a way.”
Kidd knew the way, like he knew first halves sometimes are that way, leaving the whole game still in front of him.
“I was trying to take what they gave me and was a little lackadaisical at the start,” he said. “I was turning the ball over but the beauty of this team is my teammates believe in me.
“They kept encouraging me to be aggressive. I knocked down some shots that got me going, and from there it was a matter of making some free throws.”
He made 11 of 14. He ended up with 19 points. He was Jason Kidd when the Nets needed him to be; the best player on the floor by so much that, even as Martin again enjoyed the last laugh, it wasn’t even funny.
