KENYON Martin heard the one Wednesday where the career wimp accused one of the strongest of the NBA power forwards of being a fake.
“It’s funny actually, it’s hilarious,” said Martin.
The Knicks, down 2-0, no scorers other than Stephon Marbury and no chance, had no choice as the series shifted to the Garden but to improv. All the while, Martin believed Tim Thomas’ demand that the Knicks stand up on his behalf qualified him for The Improv.
Thomas was an utter riot in asking the Knicks to start a riot. But before the Nets – once one of the silliest franchises in the entire history of franchises – laughed last again last night, they were the victims of one of the bigger practical jokes in recent NBA history.
Frank Williams was doing a job on Jason Kidd. And as big a giggle as was the competition in the two games at the Meadowlands, we kidd you not about this. The Nets’ point guard had two points and two assists 27 minutes into a game the Knicks actually were going to stay in until the end but were doomed to fail regardless, because the creme de la creme of point guards rose to the occasion.
Richard Jefferson had 17 points, 10 assists and despite four misses down the stretch, still probably was the Nets’ best player from start to finish. Martin made the big plays on both ends, at the end. But 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 then fed Martin for consecutive dunks, hit a three, gave the ball to Kerry Kittles for another three before hitting one himself to stretch the lead to nine.
Kidd leaned in to draw fouls and kept getting to the line. 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. Kidd saved a near Hardaway steal from Jefferson at 77-76 with 42 seconds remaining, snatching the ball back before Penny 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 put it away, but nobody’s ever perfect, and certainly nobody was last night, just one team staying confident down the stretch even while going 10 minutes without a field goal.
The Nets won 81-78 with their B Game, largely on their D game and because the ball still kept getting into the right hands at the end until they finally put it away. You know who put it there.
“A lot of playoff games are won by grit and toughness,” said coach Lawrence Frank. “We found a way.”
They found their way because Kidd knew the way, like he knew that the first half was no way to get things done.
“I was just trying to take what they gave me and was a little lackadaisical at the start,” he said. “I was turning the ball over and not helping my teammates.
“But the beauty of this team is that 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 the best player on the floor when it mattered the most, the Nets 3-0 series lead fully expected because no matter how pedestrian Kidd looked for more than half of the game, in the end you expected nothing else.
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Quote:
“But the beauty of this team is that my teammates believe in me. They kept encouraging me to be aggressive.” -JASON KIDD
