NET NOTES
The good news for the Nets is the Lakers won’t have Kobe Bryant tomorrow night in Los Angeles. He’ll be serving a two-game, league-imposed suspension for fighting.
The good news for the Lakers is the Nets probably won’t have Kenyon Martin.
Martin was slapped with his fourth flagrant foul of the season yesterday and, with two of them having been assessed as flagrant twos, he now has reached the point allotment before suspensions are handed out by the league.
The sixth flagrant point – and every point thereafter – results in a one game suspension. Martin’s crime yesterday came when he lowered his shoulder and elbow into the chest of Bulls’ rookie Eddy Curry at 9:40 of the third quarter. Martin claimed he was responding to previous hits.
“I got elbowed twice. They don’t see anything on those two,” Martin said. “Whatever happens, happens. Nothing I can do about it.”
Martin, asked if the refs are keeping a keen eye on him, said, “I don’t know what this is. If it [suspension] happens, there’s nothing I can do about it at this point. They were elbowing me. I said it [to the officials] after the first time.”
Team president Rod Thorn said the Nets will plead their case to the league on the call of ref Greg Willard but did not sound optimistic.
“I’ll call, but the league is going to do what the league is going to do. They look at every flagrant foul, particularly when a guy’s got five points,” Thorn said.
Martin was assessed with flagrant foul penalty two calls Dec. 22 for a foul on Karl Malone and Jan. 4 for a takedown of Tracy McGrady. On Feb. 2, he was assessed flagrant one for a foul on Jerome Williams. He already has been suspended three games – one for Malone, two for McGrady – and fined $22,500.
Complicating the Martin matter tomorrow will be the fact that the Nets likely will be without center Todd MacCulloch (plantar fasciaitis, left foot) who is eligible to come off the injured list – but probably won’t.
MacCulloch who claimed his foot is feeling better, said to play based on Martin’s absence would be “probably not a good decision, to make medical decisions based on that.”
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Nets have now beaten the Bulls four straight. Last time they did that was 1981-82 . . . Nets committed 18 turnovers . . . Kerry Kittles scored 14 for the Nets and Marcus Fizer scored 15 for the Bulls . . . For the first time since being activated Jan. 31, Brian Scalabrine did not play.