GAME 1: Pistons 78 – Nets 56
AUBURN HILLS – Just relax and wait. Any minute now. Hang on. Be patient. Grab a cup of coffee and a seat.
OK, here they come. Here come the Nets on offense now. Must be them. They never showed up last night. Better late than never.
And they never did arrive – unless you want to call the lowest point total in Net team history, regular-season or playoffs, arriving.
The Nets were slaughtered in every way imaginable by the Pistons, who administered a 78-56 mauling to grab a 1-0 lead in the East semis while ending the Nets’ record run of 14 consecutive Eastern Conference playoff victories.
And, yes, the .271-shooting Nets found one bright spot amid the muck and embarrassment of 56 points, which also represented the second-lowest scoring total in NBA playoff history, topping only the 54 Utah hung up on the Bulls in the ’98 Finals. That bright spot? It simply can’t get any worse.
“It can’t. It can’t. It can’t,” said Kenyon Martin (11 points – he was one of the hot ones – five rebounds), repeating it three times as if that and clicking his heels might transport him to a happier place, like in a game against the Knicks.
And as wretched as the Nets were, the Pistons weren’t celebrating too hard just yet.
“I don’t think it will do anything but wake up that team. I’ve been around those guys and they’re great players with a lot of pride,” Piston coach Larry Brown said.
“If people are counting them out after one game, they’re jackasses,” said a foul-plagued Rasheed Wallace (eight points, three rebounds, 24 minutes).
But maybe the sellout gathering of 22,076 – who unloaded a derisive “Byron Scott” chant after Net coach Lawrence Frank picked up a fourth-quarter frustration technical, was ready to count out the Nets. Hey, the Nets didn’t soar past 40 points until the fourth quarter.
“We were on fire,” deadpanned Jason Kidd (nine points, six assists, seven rebounds).
Only on the inside. They had to be seething in the face of a Piston defense that snuffed them at every turn and checked them to an NBA playoff record-tying 19 field goals.
Pick a nightmare, any nightmare, and the Nets lived it. They got a legit 15 points from Kerry Kittles, but they shot like cadavers and rebounded like stones as the Pistons, getting 11 boards from Ben Wallace (13 points) and 10 rebounds from Tayshaun Prince (15 points) manhandled New Jersey off the glass, 48-29.
There were offensive culprits everywhere: Richard Jefferson was 1-of-12 and scored eight points, Rodney Rogers was 0-of-6, the bench scored 13 total points with nine from Lucious Harris and Martin shot 4-of-11. And the Nets also stressed one other point: it’s only one game.
“Series aren’t won in the first game. Series aren’t won in the regular season, series aren’t won last season,” said Jefferson. “We got good looks and we didn’t knock them down. But credit their defense.”
Every step. The Nets traveled the final 8:42 of the first half with only two field goals, and actually had to feel lucky to be down, 37-25, at halftime – that represented their all-time playoff low in a half. And it got worse.
After three quarters, it was 57-39, Detroit. The Nets started the third quarter with a quick six-point flurry that ended with a transition three by Kittles at 10:48. But they wouldn’t score again until a Kidd steal and layup at 5:41 – a span of 5:08 in which the Piston lead went from six points to 49-31 through a 12-0 blitz.
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How low can you go?
The Nets and Pistons (but mostly the Nets) set or came close to some NBA playoff futility marks last night. The details:
* 25 first-half points marked playoff low for Net franchise.
* Nets’ 25 points were 2 shy of all-time NBA playoff low for a first half. (By Suns at Lakers, 5/16/00)
* Teams’ 62 combined points were fewest in a first half in NBA history. (Old mark of 63 was set three times.)
* Nets’ 56 points were fewest ever by a Net team.
* Nets’ 56 points were second-fewest in a playoff game ever (Jazz scored 54 vs. Bulls 6/7/98).
