MINNEAPOLIS – No, this wasn’t a matter of life and death.
It was just a little more important than that.
It was the Nets putting their 14-game winning streak – including an American pro sports record 13-0 start for Lawrence Frank – on the line and on the road here last night against one of the very best teams in the NBA, the tri-powered Timberwolves.
The Nets know they’re good and they’re sick of trying to prove it. They’ve been to the Finals twice. They’ve ripped off 14 straight victories. And yet all the attention in the area goes to a team that has rocked the league with a record that’s six games under .500. But they’re used to it. So while some saw the T’wolves encounter as a measuring stick or statement game, the Nets really didn’t. But they were aware a victory could alter the viewpoint of the critics.
“We beat Detroit, we beat Indiana on back-to-back nights. We went into Houston and beat a good Houston team. We beat New Orleans,” Richard Jefferson said. “Either you like us or don’t. I don’t care if you’re playing against a girls’ basketball [team], if you win 14 in a row in this league, in this day and age . . .”
Impressive. And even more impressive would be a win over a division-leader such as Minnesota with MVP candidate Kevin Garnett.
“It would be very impressive, but if people don’t like you, if people don’t want to give you credit, they don’t have to give you credit,” Jefferson continued. “I don’t think we need one win to justify three years of hard work.”
No, but maybe it would give some respect. Maybe it would stop folks such as Charles Barkley from calling them “overrated” – and that’s overrated in the Eastern Conference, a locale which pretty much is viewed as about as tough and competitive as the Near-Sighted Accountants’ Sunday League.
Still, the Nets didn’t want to make too big a deal out of the game. They still were underdogs. And the danger about placing unrealistic proportions on any one game is obvious.
“It’s not the championship game,” Jason Kidd said. “It’s not Game 7. It’s not the playoffs . . . it’s a game on the road that’s scheduled and everybody for some reason wants to make it a bigger game.”
Kenyon Martin, who like the rest of the Nets was well-aware that Garnett last week said the Pistons would come out of the East, also tried to apply the brakes to any potential runaway emotions regarding the game here.
“It’s still a game, man. It’s not the seventh game of the Finals. It’s just a regular-season game,” said Martin, coming off a 25-point, 15-round tour de force against the Raptors Tuesday.
“Every night’s a test. If you don’t show up to play, you can get beat. So I don’t say it’s the toughest [test]. They’ve got two All-Stars [Garnett and Sam Cassell], they’ve got Latrell [Sprewell], they’ve got guys back and are getting healthy. We’re up for the challenge.”
Of Garnett’s claim Detroit, not the Nets, would represent the East, Martin noted, “Nobody gave us a shot the last two years and we’ve been the team.”
So the Nets were not trying to gain public approval or public acceptance. They’ve been trying for that for three years with little success. As long as they please themselves these days, that’s what counts.
“We’re just going out there and playing, doing the right thing. That’s been the motto, just keep it going,” Kidd said. “It’s a disease. Nobody wants to lose. You go out with that mindset, you have that advantage. You gain a lot of confidence from winning.”
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Oh, yes, they call it the streak!
The Nets entered last night with 14 win in row. Here are the remaining NBA winning-streak marks they were chasing:
Consecutive wins+Team+Season
15 + Houston Rockets + 1993-94
+ Rochester Royals + 1949-50
+ Washington Capitols + 1948-49
19 + L.A. Lakers + 1999-2000
20 + Milwaukee Bucks + 1970-71
*33 + L.A. Lakers + 1971-72
* Pro sports record
