Maybe teams should try even after playoff position is assured. And not only because fans are paying more than $50 per ticket. Perhaps winning becomes a habit, as the New Jersey Nets may be finding out.
It was bad enough that stars like Allen Iverson, Vince Carter and Michael Jordan were out with injuries as the regular season closed. But the Kings chose to rest Chris Webber for their final game, the Magic sat down Tracy McGrady, the Celtics sat Antoine Walker, the 76ers rested Dikembe Mutombo and the suddenly cocky Nets barely played Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin and Keith Van Horn in losing badly at home to Toronto.
And without any significant playoff experience, the Nets couldn’t close Saturday’s Game 1 against the Pacers, who were in playoff-like games down the stretch to qualify.
“The last five games that we’ve won have been a buildup to this,” said the Pacers’ Brad Miller, who finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds. “We lose any one of those, we’re not even sitting here talking. Going overtime with Milwaukee [on April 12] and having to come up with big wins at home and on the road really got us focused.”
At the same time the Nets had quit on the regular season. Their indifference was so embarrassing, the team falling behind by 38, that Raptors players even complained to Nets coach Byron Scott about not being competitive.
“I asked Byron what was up,” Raptors forward Jerome Williams said. “Why don’t you put your players back in the game? When Chicago was on top, they went for 72 [wins]. After about the second sub, I was like, `Something’s not right here.’ When you see Jason Kidd go out in the first quarter, you know something’s not right.”
And the Nets wonder why they couldn’t sell out Game 1. Fans pay for effort all the time and deserve it. It would be fitting for the Nets to go out in the first round after the way they sold out to end the season.
A quick playoff exit, and Scott’s continuing open criticism of players, also could mean the end of Kidd’s New Jersey stay after next season. Kidd clashed with former coach Scott Skiles in Phoenix over similar relations with players, and Scott seems baffled when teams force the Nets to play a half-court game.
Mr. Clutch: Jermaine O’Neal had the big number in Saturday’s Game 1 upset of the Nets with 30 points. But Reggie Miller again was there for the big shot at the end, a clinching three-point play.
At 36, Miller has hardly slowed and is one of the best clutch performers ever. Miller has a career playoff scoring average of 23.5 points. His career regular-season average is 19.3, one of the widest differentials among all-time greats.
Miller averaged 16.5 points this season, his lowest since 1988-89, when he averaged 16.0 in his second season in the NBA. But he also took fewer shots than any non-lockout season since his second. He also won the free-throw title (.911) for the third time in four years and the fourth time overall.
“In the last 12 to 14 years,” said Pacers coach Isiah Thomas, “outside of Michael Jordan, there isn’t a 2 guard in the league who’s done it better than Reggie. It’s something like what Jordan tried to do this year with the Wizards. Reggie did that. He got us into the playoffs at 36.”
And Miller and the Pacers got a big assist–actually, steal–from former Bull Ron Artest, who remains in a frenzy but had three steals in a crucial 90-second stretch late in the game.
“I kind of like when he goes crazy. He has passion,” Miller said. “You never know what Ron Artest is going to do. That’s the joy of having him on your team. He wants to win. Being stuck in Chicago for a few years will do that to you. Now he has a chance to show the world.”
