Pope Scalabrine: Infallible from the Arc of the Trinity
Nets 127, Pistons 120 3OT
Round 2
Game 5
File
A four hour and 6 minute spectacular
that nearly ended in agony. One of the greatest Nets games every played,
and only the 4th triple overtime game in NBA playoff history. The Nets
missed free-throws that could have sealed a win throughout. Up by 3 with
a little over 2 seconds left in regulation, Chauncey Billups hit a long
three-pointer to send the game to its first OT. In all, 4 players from
each side would foul out, and it was up to Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson,
Harris, Kittles and unlikely hero Brian Scalabrine to save the day. With
Collins, Williams, Martin and Rogers fouling out one by one, Scalabrine
shot 6 - 7 from the floor, and hit 4 out of 4 3-pointers, for 17 points,
the best game of his life. And Richard Jefferson, who had only 13 points
at the end of regulation, ended the game with 31. The tremendous fortitude
of the Nets (Kidd played a game-high 57 minutes) gives them a 1-game edge
in the series, heading back to NJ.
• Box
Score
Series Record: Nets lead 3 - 2.
Nets High Men:
• Points: Richard
Jefferson, 31.
• Assists: Jason
Kidd, 8.
• Rebounds: Richard
Jefferson and Kerry Kittles each had
11.
• Steals: Jason
Kidd, 3.
• Turnovers: Richard
Jefferson, 6.
• Blocks: Collins,
Jefferson, Kidd
and Martin each had 2.
• FG Percentage: Brian
Scalabrine, 85.7% (6 - 7).
Nets Team Stats:
• FG Percentage: 43%
• FT Percentage: 76.4%
• Rebounds: 56
• Rebound Differential: +3
• Turnovers: 28
• Opponent's Turnovers: 17
• Bench
points: 34
•
Bench points Differential: +8
• Steals:
8
• Blocks:
9
•
Points in the Paint: 32
• Double-Doubles:
2 (Richard Jefferson: 31 points, 11 rebounds; Kerry Kittles: 20
points, 11 rebounds)
The Kidd Effect:
• Nets Players in Double Digit Scoring:
6
• Nets Fast Break Points: 16
• Kidd's FG Percentage: 28.6%
(4 - 14).
• Scoring
Differential Kidd in the game: +8
• Scoring
Differential Kidd out (Lucious Harris at PG): -1
• Double-Doubles
this Season: 25
• Triple
Doubles this Season: 10
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Absolution
After four hours and six minutes – three overtimes! – the Nets were absolved of every sin, big and small, by the one-time twelfth man on the New Jersey bench: Brian Scalabrine. With one flick of his wrist, the Nets' collective mistakes were instantly forgiven. Veal's 17 points and four three pointers carried the Nets to an unbelievable victory. The Nets take a 3 - 2 series lead by surviving the season's most heart-stopping game. Wow.
This win took guts, gumption and guile after the game was forced into overtime by a last second forty-plus foot prayer-shot by Chauncey Billups. The Nets rang up 42 personal fouls and 4 DQ's (including the Nets' collective middle, Kenyon Martin, Jason Collins, Aaron Williams and Rodney Rogers) and 28 turnovers (including at least five 24-second violations). How did they do it?
After blowing a 12 point first half lead and falling behind by one at the half, the Nets rode Kenyon Martin (until he fouled out in the 4th). From there the teams traded leads until the fateful end. The Nets missed 3 of 4 free throws late in the fourth, after a coast-to-coast Jason Kidd lay-up and two Kidd free throws had seemingly iced it (they were up by 3 with 16.8 seconds to go). Tayshaun Prince hit a free-throw, but Kidd could not hit his next two when fouled. Billups secured the rebound and took the ball all the way down the court for what looked like an easy lay-up. In one of the many miraculous plays of this game, Richard Jefferson appeared out of nowhere to rise up and sway Chauncey's shot against the backboard.
Kittles could only hit 1 out of 2 free throws when fouled, and with a little more than 2 seconds to go, Billups hit that 3. Shades of Derrick Fischer in the LA/SA Game 5 last night.
Into the overtime, already missing Martin and Collins, they lost Williams 15 seconds in, bringing Scalabrine back into the congregation. Back and forth it went, through the first overtime (where NJ blew a four point lead) and into the second (where they blew a 5 point lead, both times coming back from behind to tie things up with Richard Jefferson free throws.
Off to an amazing third overtime, with a lineup that featured Kidd, Scalabrine, Jefferson, Kerry Kittles and Lucious Harris. The Pistons, having lost Richard Hamilton, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince themselves, were leaning heavily on Chauncey Billups (31 points, only 2 in the last overtime). But Jefferson (7 points), Harris (5 points) and Scalabrine (4 points) scored all 16 points for Jersey in the third and – thank the Lord, last! – overtime. Brian Scalabrine hit a huge 3 pointer and a free throw to put the game (finally) out of reach of another God-directed 3-ball by Billups (Nets were now up 4).
Say a prayer for Larry Brown. He's probably gone insane with all the three point chucking and heretical offensive sets the Pistons put together late.
But mostly, keep Brian Scalabrine in your prayers. He comes up like this a few more times, the popular young redhead just might be elected pope. Of East Rutherford, at least.
Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind
Three Candles - Finally, we got a tight, closely played game. OK, the Nets blew a 12 point lead, most of which disappeared when Kidd (a superhuman 57 minutes played, every one of them crucial) was resting. What a finish to the fourth quarter. What a game it was in overtime. And oh, how about that X-Factor Supreme, Scalabrine going 4 - 4 from behind the three point line? It's unfathomable, Netsfans. Maybe we do have a miracle team this year...
Fire-Grilled Veal - Brian Scalabrine, fire starter! Hot, hot, hot was Veal, who was plugged in when the fouls started piling up. Of course you were thinking, "Wow, the Pistons really have a mismatch inside." And they did, but Veal held his own, scored 17 points, was crazy with the threes, and even added 3 rebounds and 5 hard fouls in 23 minutes. He had a gigantic rebound of a missed Jefferson shot at the end of the second OT, saving the ball from going out of bounds and getting it to Kidd. There might not have been a third overtime without that play. Viva La Veal! Best game of his career. Of his life!
Preaching To The Choir - It wasn't his best game by a mile, and his stellar shooting lasted all of one game, but Jason Kidd, as always, was the straw that stirred the Nets' holy water. The Pistons took away his running game, threw up zones and switched defenders to confuse the Nets, and it was Kidd who kept his cool and kept things moving, especially during that long (more than 7 minutes) field goal drought in the second half. And his quarterbacking skills were critical when the bodies started disqualifying. We're lucky to have him, Netsfans.
Sin City - How the Nets survived this game, and came up smelling like roses, is almost beyond me. The Pistons took 25 more shots from the field, but the Nets outrebounded them. The Nets allowed 54 Piston points in the paint (vs. only 32 for NJ) and turned it over those 28 times. And yet, they (mostly) made free throws (12 more than Detroit), they made 11 three's (45.8% from beyond the arc – is this the Nets we're talking about?) and got 34 points from the bench. Oh, and when push came to shove, the Nets made buckets, and the Pistons didn't. Who's the better team?
The Alter Boys - The Net front line of Martin and Jefferson, when they weren't sitting because of fouls, was heavenly tonight. Martin had 12 points in the first quarter and 22 for the game, and looked like he was going to carry the Nets on his back until he fouled out. How the Nets survived absence is amazing in itself. Jefferson then simply took over when Martin left the game, scoring 20 of his 31 points after Martin's 6th foul. He also had the block of the game, racing back to catch Billups from behind to block his shot with 10 seconds left in regulation, the seeming game-saver that merely set up Billups' wild shot at the buzzer.
Call-Outs - Here's to Lucious Harris, for those big shots in the third overtime. Veteran play. Can't forget Kerry Kittles either, who scored 20 points, hit 3 threes and pulled down 11 rebounds. And in defeat, Chauncey Billups was huge, dominating from the second half on and nearly ringing up a triple double (31 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists). The Net defense deserves a mention, once again holding Detroit under 40% from the field and getting 6 blocks. Should Lawrence Frank have fouled Billups on the inbounds with a 3 point lead and only 2+ seconds remaining? Good question.
Praying For A Heart Attack - My goodness, this was the most tense that Joe has been since that overtime Game 5 against the Pacers back in 2002. I about needed a pacemaker just to survive Billups' long distance three to send the game into overtime. Then, in both the first and second overtimes, it was all I could do to breathe after watching the Nets surge ahead, then scramble back for the tie. A third overtime? Forget it. My brain fried, my synapses no longer firing information to anywhere inside my body, I just about watered myself when Scalabrine hit his final dagger of the night. That's when I knew, I would either live in celebration or die in defeat. I tell you, this Netsfan stuff is rough business.
Watch For The White Smoke
That makes three straight wins for the team that couldn't possibly beat the Pistons. Behind huge efforts from Brian Scalabrine, Richard Jefferson, Kenyon Martin and Jason Kidd, plus the rest of the top nine Nets, the Nets are ready to close out this series against a shell-shocked Pistons squad. Watch for the white smoke coming out of the Champion Center tomorrow – there just might be a new pope elected. Rest up, all...Game 6 could be just as wild.
- Joe
Veal's Vatican
Champagne takes a snort of incense to calm himself before compiling his favorite moments in one of the greatest Nets games he's ever seen, quarter by quarter, OT by OT. A cathedral of love, dedicated to Veal!
1: Taking Rome From the Romans Thinks looked great for our Christian Soldiers when they went on a 15 - 0 run in the first quarter. The starting 5 was righteous, on target, and converting nonbelievers everywhere. It would not last. Pistons went on a 6 - 0 to close out the quarter and the Nets were up 6.
2: Ragged Glory Rex Chapman, TNT analyst, on Detroit at the start of the 2nd quarter: "They look funky." Okur launched an airball, Hunter committed an offensive foul, and with a second to shoot, Ben Wallace launched a desperation 3-ball heave that hit nothing but shot clock, and Richard Hamilton threw the ball out of bounds twice in two possessions. It was here that a shot first ruled a 3-ball by Hamilton was changed to a 2-pointer, taking a point away from Detroit. Meanwhile on the other side, A-Train made a nice tap to RJ of a Kidd miss, Harris stole the ball from Billups, and then he and Kittles proceeded to play volleyball around the rim, repeatedly missing.
3: The Catacombs Things looked scary in the third, where a variety of blocks, strips, and lobs occurred. Rasheed blocked Martin, then Ben Wallace converted an 'oop toss from Hamilton. Prince blocked Kittles, then Collins got revenge, blocking Prince. Kenyon displayed more masculine Christianity by then blocking Big Ben Wallace himself, then later stripping him of the ball, near the end of this quarter.
4: The Desert and the Devil Himself Welcome to the fourth quarter Hell. The Nets committed 4 fouls before 1:30 had ticked off the clock, and Detroit was nearly as quick compiling their own. In this quarter, 43 of the game's 97 free-throws were taken. A torturous 12 minutes that stretched into infinity. First Collins, then Martin would foul out here, then Richard Hamilton. This is were Kidd drove the ball, end to end, and made an incredible lay-up to give the Nets a 1-point advantage with 1:05 to go. This is where Jefferson ran back for that highlight-reel block on Billups. And you know about that 3-pointer by Chauncey, the Devil Himself – it was the first Piston's field goal in almost 4 1/2 minutes.
OT: Charge of the Light Brigade Rather, call that a blocking foul. One of the biggest plays of this 5 minutes was when a charge by Kittles was overruled by a ref, and a blocking foul was called on Corliss Williamson (he was within the dashed circle). Every point counted in this game, and Kittles hit two free-throws, instead of the ball going the other way. At the end of the first OT, Kidd got trapped, and a pass to Scalabrine got to him too late. Then Billups missed a 3-ball on the other end.
2OT: False Security An attack of three-balls early in the 2nd OT gave Netsfans a false sense of security. Scalabrine, Kidd, and Jefferson drained one each on successive possessions. The Nets were up by 5. But the middle was open for Detroit with all four Nets big men now fouled out. Rasheed and Corliss took advantage. Scalabrine made that critical rebound and save of RJ's missed shot here; Jefferson again could only hit 1 out of 2 free throws at the end of the OT, tying the game. Billups missed a shot; Kittles missed a shot. Triple OT, here we go.
3OT: "Veal For 3!" The frame that Richard Jefferson used to build his growing legend – he'd score 7 here, and he WOULD hit his free-throws, all 4 of them, at the end of the game. Where Harris got inside for a lay-up and a foul (it'd be the game-winner, as Detroit never led in this OT), and would hit a jumper. And after a Williamson lay-in, Nets only up 1, Veal served up a 3 from the corner with under a minute to play. With Jersey up by 3 with 16.9 to play, Detroit stole an inbounds – Mike James raced to the hole, dished it to Billups out on the arc, but he missed. Kidd had been raked across the face by Prince during the attempt to get open for Harris' pass, and blood rolled down from a cut high up on Jason's nose. RJ hit those free-throws, and the assault on The Palace was over – it took more than four hours for the Nets to win a game on the road against Detroit.
- Champagne
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