MIAMI – The marker board in the Nets’ locker room before the game held the motivational, encouraging and inspirational message for the team as they went out in an attempt to stave off elimination by the Miami Heat.
“Start of Our Finest Hour . . .
Belief-Trust-Execution . . .
Why Not Us?” So Lawrence Frank turned to the mental stuff. Why not?
“There’s no magic potion, no magic formula,” he said.
And no miracle finish.
Dwyane Wade batted away Jason Kidd’s inbound pass with 1.4 seconds left in the Nets’ season.
Instead of their finest hour, last night marked the start of another disappointing summer for the Nets. Playoff elimination arrived when the Heat captured the Eastern Conference semifinal series, 4-1, with a 106-105 victory in Game 5 here.
And why not them? Well, try Wade’s second half, Antoine Walker’s second straight game of 20 or more points, a total lack of Nets depth, not to mention Miami’s superior strength inside with Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning.
The Nets’ last chance came when Gary Payton misfired with 3.9 seconds remaining and Richard Jefferson rebounded for one final try.
After a timeout, Vince Carter stumbled and Kidd’s pass to him never found its mark.
Oh, the Nets believed, they trusted and they executed, but it still didn’t get them a chance to become the ninth NBA team in 164 to rally from 3-1 down to win a series.
The Nets’ Big Three gave huge efforts: Carter scored 33, Jefferson contributed his career playoff high 33, and Kidd flipped in 20 points to go with eight assists. Lamond Murray gave a nice 14-point bench effort, but starters Nenad Krstic and Jason Collins totaled two points.
Wade scored 21 points for the Heat, 17 in the second half.
Down six with under 2:00 left, the Nets used two defensive stops, one O’Neal freethrow miss and three straight Carter scores (two layups, a dunk) to get within 106-105 with 29.1 seconds left to set up the last sequence.
With the score 96-96, O’Neal (17 points) botched two free throws at 4:55. But Wade stripped Jefferson on a jumper try up top and converted a TD pass from Walker (23 points) at 4:38. Carter made 1-of-2 at the line before a Udonis Haslem put-back and an O’Neal jump hook sandwiched a Murray jumper.
Miami led, 102-99, over 100 points for the fourth straight game, when O’Neal missed two more free throws at 2:26.
Murray missed a tie-trying 3-pointer, then Walker made a triple at 1:56 to make it 105-99.
Miami threatened to pull away in the fourth when a Mourning dunk made it 90-84, the Heat’s biggest lead to that point. The Nets battled back and forced the 96-96 tie on a Jefferson jumper at 5:11.
The Nets started out playing like the message board implored, jumping to a 9-2 lead before claiming a 12-point advantage early in the second quarter. Finally, the Nets had Wade under control as he looked darn near human.
Problem was too many other Heat players looked like Wade of the previous three games, and the Nets, after their blazing start, began looking like the Nets of the previous three games.
The Nets could not capitalize on the four-point half by Wade or a foul-plagued O’Neal. In fact, they needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Murray to enter halftime tied, 54-54. The Nets’ big undoing was an awful 8:12 stretch of the second quarter during which they shot 3-of-7, committed seven turnovers, went 1-of-2 at the line, and called three timeouts.
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Nets vs. Heat
At a glance
Game Date Site Time TV Radio
Game 1 Nets 100, Heat 88
Game 2 Heat 111, Nets 89
Game 3 Heat 103, Nets 92
Game 4 Heat 102, Nets 92
Game 5 Heat 106, Nets 105
HEAT WIN SERIES, 4-1
