Down 11 points early in the fourth quarter, the New Jersey Nets were in dire need of offense from somebody–anybody.
Kenyon Martin came through, scoring 14 of his team’s 16 points in the comeback run as the Nets rallied to beat the Detroit Pistons 88-86 Tuesday night and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
“I didn’t have a great three quarters, so I wanted to come out in the fourth quarter and be aggressive and attack the rim,” said Martin, who finished with 25 points for the game. “I got a couple of calls, a couple of shots fell for me. I got my team back into the game.”
Only two NBA teams have won a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games at home.
As for the Pistons, they were left to regret another blown fourth-quarter lead. Another two-point loss. Another last-second shot that didn’t go in, this time by Chauncey Billups. The team that has pulled so many out of its hat suddenly can’t find the magic. They have scored a total of 30 points in the two fourth quarters of this series.
Richard Jefferson’s two free throws with 48 seconds remaining were the winning points, but the Pistons had two chances to tie or win. Corliss Williamson missed a short hook with about 30 seconds left, and Billups couldn’t put any mustard on a 3-pointer at the buzzer with Jason Kidd in his face.
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Wednesday’s game
– Dallas at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m., TNT
Mavericks lead series 1-0
