NETS 87, SPURS 85: Jason Kidd comes through at the line, and Dikembe Mutombo helps contain Tim Duncan.
By Times Wires
Published June 7, 2003
[AP photo]
Dikembe Mutombo, with Tim Duncan's jersey, helped hold him to 19 points.
SAN ANTONIO - Five pieces of yellow poster board were strewn on the floor behind the Nets' bench, a picture of a broom and one letter from the word "SWEEP" on each of them.
Moments after the final buzzer, they were covered with footprints.
Led by the late free-throw shooting of Jason Kidd and the insertion of Dikembe Mutombo into the rotation, New Jersey evened the NBA Finals at one Friday, beating San Antonio 87-85.
"I think we showed a real lack of respect for the situation for three quarters," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "And then finally when it got critical, it looked like the basketball team I watched play all year long."
By then, however, too much damage had been done.
Although the Spurs made a comeback to pull within a point, the difference in the end was Kidd's free-throw shooting.
Six times, he went to the line during the final 20 seconds, and five of those times, he made the shot. And when Stephen Jackson missed a 3-pointer with three seconds left and no one gained control of the loose ball before the buzzer, the complexion of this series had been altered.
"We jumped on them from the beginning, and we didn't give them the chance to breathe," said Mutombo, who along with Jason Collins helped hold Duncan to 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Kidd led the Nets with 30 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, and seven rebounds.
The series heads to New Jersey for a week, and it's a whole lot different than it was a day earlier, when the Nets were questioning and almost ridiculing the strategies used by coach Byron Scott.
Scott made plenty of adjustments, most notably giving 20 minutes of playing time to Mutombo, the four-time defensive player of the year who had barely played during the postseason.
Mutombo made his first two shots, blocked three others and gave the Nets an inside presence that prevented the Spurs from scoring with ease from inside as they did in Game 1.
"(Duncan is) their playmaker," Mutombo said. "However he goes, that's how the Spurs go. If we can find a way to slow him down, we can have great success in the series."
New Jersey had a 41-35 halftime lead as San Antonio, which made its first five shots, made just two during the rest of the first quarter and eight during the rest of the half.
"Four of my guys are playing like it's summer league," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said at halftime. "I've never been so disappointed in my life."
After the Spurs pulled within eight early in the fourth quarter, Kidd's 25-foot 3-pointer hushed the crowd.
Consecutive baskets by Malik Rose got the deficit down to seven and re-energized the building, but two defensive plays by Mutombo, altering a 2-footer by Duncan then blocking a shot by Robinson, quieted the fans.
Mutombo's block of Robinson turned into a fastbreak layup by Richard Jefferson for a 78-70 lead. A 9-2 run, led by Parker, made it a one-point game with 2:06 left.
