Magic 100 Nets 98
ORLANDO – For most of the night, observers at the O-Rena kept pointing to the players in the gray road uniforms asking, “Who are those guys?”
Those guys were shooting well. They were on a pace to score 100 points. They had spirit. They executed. They defended. They were battling one ofthe NBA’s elite clubs, a team that has been near-invincible at home. Surely, these guys couldn’t be the Nets, could they?
And then they tried to protect a narrow lead in the final minute. That confirmed it. Yup, they were the Nets.
After doing so much right for so long, and under the eyes of corporate partners Lewis Katz and George Steinbrenner, the Nets, again without leading scorer Keith Van Horn, could not close out against the Atlantic Division-leading Magic. So despite an almost-heroic effort, the Nets suffered what may have been their most disappointing defeat of a hideously disappointing season, 100-98, last night. In the final :16.6, the Nets missed two shots, a running drive by Stephon Marbury and a 3-pointer for the win by Chris Carr.
“Our best effort at both ends,” said interim coach Don Casey, who received no argument, despite the Nets falling to 5-24 overall and 2-7 on his watch. “They made the two big plays at the end and that pretty much was the difference. But we’re getting there. Now, if the season goes to Aug. 15…”
“Guys were shooting well, guys were defending, doing everything we were supposed to do,” offered Marbury, “except win.”
And so in the words of Kendall Gill, who returned to the starting lineup but shot 1-of-10 in the second half – including 1-of-7 in the fourth quarter – the night’s proceedings resulted in “another great effort, but just another loss.”
The game had started on such an upbeat note as the likes of Gill (12 points), Kerry Kittles (18 points) and even Jayson Williams (16 points, 12 rebounds) were shooting over 60 percent for a half. Now you know why there were so many double-takes.
“I thought these guys couldn’t shoot,” Magic executive VP Pat Williams said at halftime.
The Nets, despite the continued threats of Nick Anderson (28 points), Penny Hardaway (16 points, 11 rebounds) and the venerable Dominique Wilkins (17 points, 13 shots in 13 minutes), managed to forge an 11-point lead in the third quarter. But it all came down to the final minute. Marbury (17 points, seven assists) gave the Nets their final lead of the game, 98-96, with a pretty drive at 1:10. Then the Magic (22-9) took over.
Anderson quickly – four seconds after the Marbury score – struck from the left corner off a Darrell Armstrong feed at 1:06 as Gill slipped in coverage. Gill then drove and tried a scoop shot that couldn’t get over the front rim. Armstrong rebounded and eventually worked the ball to Horace Grant, who stuck the dagger in the Nets’ collective gut with a 16-footer.
“Darrell did a great job of penetrating and I was right there,” said Grant (13 points, eight rebounds). “Earlier in the game, I passed a couple times and so they played the passing lane. I faked a pass and shot. Yeah, I thought it was going in. I feel that way about every shot.”
And Marbury felt that way about his attempt. He drove, wearing Armstrong, but got neither basket nor call at about :05.
“It felt good. I thought it was in but it didn’t go. You know at the end of the game, you’re going to get hit,” said Marbury, who was plagued by early foul trouble. “That’s all part of taking the last shot.”
But as it turned out, it wasn’t the last shot. That was reserved for Carr, who corralled a long rebound and, instead of driving in for two, raced back and hurled from behind the arc, trying for the win, at :02.
Said Carr, “I knew we had (little time) left and I had to get it off. I was trying to get the win on the road.”
But like the Nets’ effort, it came up short.
