Nets89
Hornets80
CHARLOTTE – Kenyon Martin was back in New Jersey for tossing a punch. Keith Van Horn sat in his hotel room after tossing his lunch. Todd MacCulloch answered the question, “What’s 7-foot and invisible?” Kerry Kittles played on two ankles that were as sturdy as wet cardboard. And Jason Kidd didn’t record his first assist until nearly 25 minutes had elapsed.
So how in the name of NBA suspensions and stomach viruses and bad performances and sprained ankles did the Nets even compete against the Hornets, let alone pull out an 89-80 victory here last night?
Well, start with defense and determination. But go immediately to a couple of rookies, Jason Collins and Richard Jefferson, who played like they had been doing this for ages.
“I told you I was going to play rookies and they played well. They stepped up. Those two guys, especially Jason, were terrific,” said coach Byron Scott. “Jason was the MVP tonight.”
Martin was serving the first leg of his two-game suspension handed out by the league earlier in the day as a result of his flagrant foul II and thrown punch in Friday’s defeat against Orlando. Van Horn was stricken with a stomach virus, a fact that was laid on Byron Scott at about 5 o’clock. So Scott turned to his rookies. A stroke of genius, as it turned out – even if he had no other realistic choice.
Jefferson had started Dec. 26, the last time Martin served a suspension, and responded with 16 points, nine rebounds. This time, he gave 16 and seven. Collins, in his first ever NBA start, was sturdy and efficient, and downright productive defensively. Not only did he contribute 18 points and 12 rebounds but he effectively negated Hornet center Elden Campbell (26 points). Collins limited Campbell to 11 second half points and “frustrated him,” according to Scott, straight into a fifth foul, of the offensive variety, with 3:19 left. And all that was needed because MacCulloch struggled horribly against Campbell’s quickness. In 21 minutes, MacCulloch managed just two points and one rebound.
“We’ve always told the young guys to be ready because you never know what’s going to happen. But that’s the type of team we have. Guys plug in,” said Kidd, who had 18 points, five rebounds, eight assists, his first coming at 11:11 of the third quarter when he fed Collins for a jump hook.
Kittles, who has been nursing a sprained left ankle for nearly three weeks – he has re-aggravated it since the original injury – came down and twisted the right one this time. As Kidd drove to the hole early in the first quarter, Kittles trailed and simply planted and collapsed. He was wrapped and re-wrapped and finished the first half in obvious pain.
“Thank God for Tylenol, that did it at halftime and let me go back and play,” said Kittles, who scored all 10 of his points in the third quarter when the Nets blew open the game with a 34-16 session.
The third quarter decided matters. After a first half where they often looked confused and listless – and a first half that left them trailing 40-33 – the Nets suffocated the Hornets on the defensive end. Charlotte shot just 3-of-17 (.176), committed four turnovers and didn’t exactly excel the other way, either. The Nets unloaded 34 points – 11 by Collins on their noggins, making 11-of-20 shots (.550) in the session. The Nets entered the fourth on top, 67-56.