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Nets even series as teams get defensive

Stephen Jackson, right, of the San Antonio Spurs drives past Kerry Kittles of the New Jersey Nets during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Wednesday. PHOTO: AFP

Tim Duncan hit a 2-pointer at the final buzzer Wednesday as the New Jersey Nets claimed a 77-76 victory over the San Antonio Spurs that tied the NBA Finals at two games apiece.

"This series is going to be played like this pretty much the whole series. Might as well get used to it," Nets coach Byron Scott said. "It's going to be a defensive battle, it's going to be low-scoring -- and you're not talking about teams that can't score."

Duncan's final basket came after Manu Ginobili's 3-point attempt moments earlier was short as Kidd's hand brushed against the net. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ran onto the court to ask the referees whether Kidd had goaltended.

"It was short. It just grazed off the front. The guy that hit the net didn't have anything to do with it," Popovich said.

Game 5 will be played at the Meadowlands on Friday night and then the series will head back to San Antonio.

Kenyon Martin scored 20 points for the Nets, while Kidd had 16 points, nine assists and eight rebounds and Richard Jefferson scored 18 points.

Missing the mark * Tim Duncan had 23 points and 17 rebounds. * David Robinson added 14 points, but he shot only 29 percent from the field. * Tony Parker was 1-for-12 from the field, Stephen Jackson (1-for-9), Bruce Bowen (2-for-9) and Malik Rose (0-for-9) * Combined, the Spurs were 4-for-39 from the field, hitting 10.2 percent of their shots.

The Nets scored their final eight points from the foul line, failing to make a field goal over the final 4:11 minutes.

Kidd went 4-for-4 from the line in the final 9.1 seconds to force the Spurs to go for a tying 3-pointer at the end.

Ginobili got free and received a crosscourt inbounds pass, pump-faking one defender off his feet before attempting a 3. As the ball reached the rim, Kidd jumped up and made contact with the net.

It was unclear from television replays whether he touched the ball.

Duncan got the offensive rebound and scored, but the Spurs needed three points -- not two.

It was a strange ending to what was easily the most emotional and physical game of the series.

The Nets were trying to avoid a 3-1 deficit that no NBA team has overcome in the finals, and they did just enough to win despite shooting 36 percent, missing nine free throws and scoring only 32 points in the second half as San Antonio came back from a 15-point deficit.

The Spurs had a 12-0 run to end the third quarter and a 5-0 run to start the fourth. New Jersey countered with a 9-0 run to go ahead 67-63, and no more than three points separated the teams over the final 6 minutes.

Robinson fouled out with 1:51 left while defending Martin, who also had five fouls. Martin made one of two free throws, then had two of his shots rejected by Duncan before Duncan was whistled for a foul trying to do it again. Martin made both with 1:12 left to give New Jersey a 73-72 lead.

Ginobili missed a 3-pointer with 54 seconds remaining, and Dikembe Mutombo grabbed an offensive rebound after the Nets dribbled most of the 24-second clock away. That gave New Jersey a new shot clock with 33 seconds left, and they worked it down to 14 seconds before Kidd tried a contested jumper over Parker.

That shot bounced off the back of the rim and was deflected out to the 3-point line, where Kerry Kittles grabbed it and passed to Kidd, who was fouled.

He calmly sank both free throws with 9.1 seconds left, leaving the Spurs trailing by 3.

"The first offensive rebound they just outhustled us," Robinson said. "On the second, we had two guys fighting for the ball and we kind of gave it back to them. That's extremely disappointing.

"You just feel like kicking yourself, like `What are we doing? Do we want to win this game? Is there some kind of urgency out there?'"

The Spurs elected to go for a quick 2-pointer by Duncan, then fouled Kidd with 4.8 seconds left. He made both to set up the final sequence.

"This was a must-win," Martin said. "We knew we had to give maximum effort and we did on both ends."

CTV and ESPN will broadcast Game 5 live at 8:30am on Saturday. Game 6 will be shown live at 8:30am on Monday. Game 7, if necessary, will be shown live at 8:30 am on June 19.
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