AUBURN HILLS – The Nets still think of themselves as underdogs, as street fighters forever needing to prove themselves, and maybe that’s why it’s so hard to think of them flying back to New Jersey tonight as vanquished champions rather than taking the shorter shuttle down to Indianapolis.
Maybe that’s what will fuel them tonight, when they square off with the Detroit Pistons, an entire season hanging in the balance, 48 minutes, winner gaining 12 boarding passes to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Maybe that’s why they’re going to take care of business tonight, finish off the Pistons (four days late), and remind the Pacers, lying in wait, who still holds the crown in the East.
“Nobody expected us to get this far, right?” Jason Kidd said, sarcastic grin firmly planted on his face. “So if we win [tonight], nobody will expect that, either.”
“We have nothing to lose,” Richard Jefferson said.
“If we win,” Kenyon Martin said, “there’s gonna be a lot of surprised people, I know that.”
If the three of them were comprised of different personalities, bringing different levels of experience into this Game 7 showdown with the Pistons, then maybe we could dismiss those observations as disingenuous flings against a stone wall. If they hadn’t already united to overcome so many playoff obstacles, leapt over so many springtime impediments, you could dismiss them, period.
But Kidd, Jefferson and Martin have together played 50 postseason games the past three seasons, winning 30 of them, which is a better winning percentage than they’ve managed the past two regular seasons. Tonight, when they gather around the center circle for the tipoff of their 51st playoff game, they will do so knowing they have the far deeper well of playoff understanding to draw from.
“We’ve been through an awful lot these last couple of years,” Martin said.
“We’ve been through everything a team can go through, and then some,” Jefferson said.
“There isn’t anything we’ll encounter that will surprise us,” Kidd said. “That’s the benefit of having played so many games together.”
If you are a Nets fan, then that is what you must bank on tonight. Kidd isn’t 100 percent. As Jefferson said, Kidd probably hasn’t been at 100 percent since Christmas. Martin isn’t 100 percent, either, even if he’s looked the part much of the playoffs, an actor playing a role to near perfection.
The fact is, even with their physical limitations, Kidd and Martin have the greater gift of knowledge, of past performance. Together with Jefferson, they endured that double-overtime win against Indiana two years ago. They survived the frightening blow to the head Kidd absorbed against Charlotte, and the blown 26-point lead at Boston.
Together, they swept Boston and Detroit last year, then the Knicks in the first round this year, and they dragged themselves back into this series against the Pistons even when it seemed as if they were about to maybe feel the business end of a broom.
“Really, all this is, is just another experience to add to the resume,” Jefferson said.
“One more battle, is all,” said Kidd.
“It’s just a test of who’s gonna play hardest,” Martin said. “That’s got to be us, or else it’s going to be a long offseason.”
The Pistons have no one to match them, not in terms of playoff success. Name the important game Chauncey Billups has ever taken over in his life, the way Kidd has done so often in these situations. Rasheed Wallace surely has the talent, and also the memory of how he melted like July ice in Game 7 against the Lakers three years back. And do we even need to discuss the Jefferson-Tayshaun Prince matchup?
The Palace will be insane tonight. The intensity will be fierce. The smart money, they say, will be with the Pistons. But the Nets have Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson on their side. They’ll take those odds every time.
