Jason Kidd was in so much agony, he needed to put a towel in his mouth as he lay on the court, writhing on the court, his right ankle burning in pain.
For the first time all night, concern drifted through the Meadowlands for 45 agonizing seconds.
With the Nets up 11, Kidd jumped for his ninth rebound with 6:59 left, and landed on Ben Wallace’s foot, twisting it horribly before crumpling to the court.
But there is nothing going to ruin this spectacular Nets’ playoff march, and Kidd would make sure there was no reason to worry. He walked gingerly off the court, collected himself during the timeout and went back onto the court, telling Byron Scott he was OK.
At first, he looked to be a gimpy on the first two possessions but then adrenaline took over and he scored eight points in the next four minutes as the Nets extended their lead to 96-75 with 3:11 left en route to a 102-82 Game 4 victory over the Pistons.
“I’m sure he’ll be sore for three, four days,” Scott said. “It’s good this series is over.”
Scott went against sound logic in letting him continue. But then again, the Nets do have 10 days off before the NBA Finals.
Kidd finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, and the whole team seemed spark when Kidd was able to go.
“Our guys had a lot of lift when he came back, the crowd was going crazy,” Scott said. “Our guys fed off that. I was nervous.
“Our best player was on the floor, but I also know like Kenyon [Martin], he’s one of our toughest players. I asked him if I should bring A.J. [Anthony Johnson] in and he said no. I also knew then we had to win the game so he could rest.”
With the score 96-77, Kidd finally came out with 3:00 left, a roaring thunder of an ovation shaking the Meadowlands. Towel on his head, Kidd made his way down the bench, high-fiving every one of his teammates along the way.
When Martin came out with 1:43 left, during a timeout, he stepped up on to a chair and gyrated to the crowd, then high-fived fans seated behind the baseline.
Two signs said it all last night: One said, “Texas, here we come.” The other said, “10 in a row, on to the show.”
The fans chanted “sweep” across the last six minutes and Tamar Slay dribbled out the final seconds of garbage time. Deputy commissioner Russ Granic then was on the court, presenting the Eastern Conference champonship trophy.
Kidd hoisted it as if it was the Stanley Cup.
