GAME 2
NETS 90
PACERS 75
Call it the end result of some criticism, some desperation, his general makeup and because the stars were aligned funny. Whatever the reason, whatever the cause, Vince Carter had a scowl on his face, a purpose in his step and a mission in his mind.
And it all spilled over to the Nets. All of them.
“It’s unfortunate that I was criticized or whatever you want to call it for my shot selection, but I was being aggressive for my team,” said Carter, who was ripped for his 33-shot performance in Game 1. “When I play the game, I play for my team. If it’s good enough for them, that’s all that matters.”
Well, Carter’s game was good enough for everybody, and everybody else in a Nets uniform turned in a game good enough for him. Carter led all scorers with 33 points, Jason Kidd flirted with a triple-double, Richard Jefferson scored an often- acrobatic 21 points, Nenad Krstic added 20, and the Nets suffocated the injury and foul-crippled Pacers with attitude and defense that allowed just 35.4-shooting. Blend it all together and the Nets registered a 90-75 victory, evening the first-round playoff series with Indiana, 1-1, last night at the Meadowlands.
“A team effort,” said coach Lawrence Frank, who proceeded through a laundry list of virtually all his players. “They all did a great job.”
After noting Kidd was “off the charts,” Frank summed up Carter’s play: “Huge.”
Especially in the fourth quarter after several comeback tries by the Pacers, who were without Peja Stojakovic (knee) and then saw a frustrated Jermaine O’Neal (12 points, 7 rebounds) negated by foul trouble as much as the Nets defense. Twice, Carter (12-of-20 shooting) went on mini-surges to stifle Indy. The Nets, up 21 in the third quarter, saw Indiana within 73-62 with 8:07 left. So Carter sandwiched one Pacers free throw with two jumpers. After Indy got back within 79-71, Carter hit a technical foul shot (Johnson), then made a 17-foot turnaround that he followed with a breakaway dunk at 2:32. The Nets led, 84-71.
“He’s focused,” said Kidd who had 13 assists, 11 rebounds and six points, missing his ninth career postseason triple-double by two baskets (he shot 3-of-10). “He wants to be successful in the playoffs, he wants to carry the team, he wants to do whatever it takes to win.”
He came out aggressively last night, with a mug looking like the Pacers just kicked his puppy. Carter, hitting his first five shots, fired in 14 points in the first quarter. When Indy missed its final 12 shots of the half, the Nets were up, 44-36. Not that hot, considering O’Neal sat the final 8:58 with three fouls (he got No. 4 on an offensive call 72 seconds into the third quarter). And Stephen Jackson and Danny Granger, Stojakovic’s sub, were in foul trouble.
“I have to be politically correct, which I hate being because I’d like to go off on a lot of people right now,” Jackson said.
Said O’Neal, “When you pick up fouls the way they’ve been giving them to me, it’s tough.”
The enthusiasm of being down just eight at the half quickly evaporated for Indy amid the whistles and the subsequent defensive stands by the Nets. With the Nets leading, 50-36, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle rolled the dice and kept O’Neal in the game with four fouls. He needed everything to crack the Nets defense. No luck.
“In the first game we were a little passive,” Kidd said. “Tonight we understood we couldn’t go down two-love on our homecourt, so we came out with the intentions of playing defense for 48 minutes.”
“Our defense was more impressive. We got off to the early start that we wanted. We tried to take away their confidence from the get go and then we just continued moving on,” said Jefferson. ” We just tried to be consistent tonight and good things happened.”
For everybody, but especially Carter.