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Nets win East, trip to Finals

New Jersey says goodbye to Celtics, but Lakers say: Hold on!

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 1, 2002

The Nets are more than a first-quarter team. They are champs of the Eastern Conference.

They overcame a 10-point halftime deficit and advanced to their first NBA Finals with a 96-88 win over the Celtics on Friday night. They took the best-of-seven series 4-2.

They face the winner of Los Angeles-Sacramento beginning Wednesday night. The two-time defending champion Lakers beat the Kings 106-102 thanks to 11 free throws in the last two minutes to set up a Game 7 Sunday at Arco Arena.

The Nets, who led by 15, 13 and 15 after the opening quarter of the previous three games, trailed 28-21 after the first quarter, though they went out to a 14-3 lead.

But they finished the third with a 6-0 run to go ahead 70-69 and never trailed. They won a second straight time at the FleetCenter, where the Celtics had won 11 straight before a 94-92 loss Monday.

The Nets franchise won two ABA titles but only one NBA playoff series before this season. The Nets are the first since the 1977-78 Seattle SuperSonics to make it to the title series after failing to qualify for the playoffs the previous season.

The Lakers, meanwhile, have to battle history as well as the Kings. Only once has a road team prevailed in a Game 7 of the West final in the past 52 years: Phoenix at Golden State in 1976. The feat has been accomplished 14 times overall in playoff history.

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