Cleveland – Jason Kidd scored 20 points and the New Jersey Nets somehow delayed an early summer vacation with an ugly 83-72 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night to pull within 3-2 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Doomed by an inability to execute down the stretch in this series, the Nets built a 22-point lead in the third quarter and then held on to force a Game 6 on Friday night at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.
“I wanted to let the guys know this series isn’t over and we had to come out and put ourselves in a position to win,” Kidd said. “We came out and had a great start.”
How they won was not much short of a miracle.
New Jersey made one field goal and scored just six points in the fourth quarter on 1-of-15 shooting from the field. The Nets were also only 4-of-10 from the free-throw line in the final 12 minutes.
Kidd missed five foul shots in the final minute, when the Nets were trying to put it away.
Cleveland, which blew a chance to close out the series on its home floor, wasn’t much better, shooting just 3-of-17 in the fourth. The Cavaliers played the last 56 seconds without LeBron James, who injured himself tumbling over Cleveland’s bench while scrambling for a loose ball with Kidd.
Richard Jefferson added 15 points, Mikki Moore 14 and Vince Carter 12 for the Nets.
“We’re a veteran ballclub and we’ve been in this situation before,” Kidd said. “Everybody pitched in at some point and we got a big win on the road to force Game 6. We played well. We didn’t finish the fourth quarter the way we wanted to. We’re just going to let it hang out in Game 6.”
James led the Cavaliers with 20 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 16, but Larry Hughes gave Cleveland next to nothing, going 3-of-17 from the floor.
Nets 83, Cavaliers 72
FG FT Reb
NEW JERSEY Min M-A M-A O-T A F Pt Jefferson 44:15 6-11 2-2 0-8 2 1 15
Moore 33:12 6-12 2-2 1-6 2 5 14
Collins 24:29 0-1 0-0 2-3 0 2 0
Carter 42:58 5-11 2-4 2-6 10 4 12
Kidd 41:54 8-14 1-6 1-9 6 2 20
Nachbar 22:55 4-9 2-2 0-3 0 2 13
Boone 8:17 1-2 0-4 0-1 0 2 2
Wright 9:57 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 1 2
Williams 4:24 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2
House 7:39 1-5 0-0 0-1 0 0 3
Totals 240:00 33-69 9-20 7-39 21 20 83
Percentages: FG .478, FT .450. 3-point goals: 8-21, .381 (Kidd 3-7, Nachbar 3-7, Jefferson 1-1, House 1-4, Carter 0-1, Williams 0-1). Team rebounds: 13. Team turnovers: 19 (20 points). Blocked shots: 3 (Kidd 2, Jefferson). Turnovers: 17 (Kidd 8, Carter 3, Moore 2, Williams 2, Jefferson, Nachbar). Steals: 9 (Kidd 4, Collins, Jefferson, Nachbar, House, Moore). Technical foul: Defensive three-second, 11:33 second.
FG FT Reb
CLEV. Min M-A M-A O-T A F Pt James 42:47 5-14 10-11 3-9 5 4 20
Gooden 29:19 2-7 0-0 2-8 1 2 4
Ilgauskas 31:37 6-8 4-4 2-6 1 2 16
Pavlovic 29:50 3-8 0-2 0-3 1 5 8
Hughes 39:37 3-17 0-1 2-3 4 2 7
Varejao 23:21 1-2 1-2 2-8 0 3 3
Snow 19:19 1-2 1-2 1-4 1 1 3
Gibson 17:02 3-7 1-2 0-0 0 3 8
Marshall 7:08 0-7 3-5 3-4 0 0 3
Totals 240:00 24-72 20-29 15-45 13 22 72
Percentages: FG .333, FT .690. 3-point goals: 4-15, .267 (Pavlovic 2-3, Hughes 1-4, Gibson 1-4, James 0-2, Marshall 0-2). Team rebounds: 7. Team turnovers: 18 (16 points). Blocked shots: 3 (Varejao 2, James). Turnovers: 18 (James 5, Pavlovic 4, Hughes 3, Ilgauskas 2, Varejao 2, Snow, Gibson). Steals: 7 (James 2, Varejao 2, Hughes, Ilgauskas, Gibson). Technical fouls: None. Flagrant fouls: Pavlovic, 10:11 third.
New Jersey 24 23 30 6 – 83
Cleveland 18 21 20 13 – 72
A – 20,562 (20,562). T – 2:28. Officials – Dan Crawford, Mike Callahan, Bob Delaney.
NBA PLAYOFFS
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
(Best of seven)
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PHOENIX VS. SAN ANTONIO
Spurs lead series 3-2
May 6: San Antonio 111, Phoenix 106
May 8: Phoenix 101, San Antonio 81
Saturday: San Antonio 108, Phoenix 101
Monday: Phoenix 104, San Antonio 98
Wednesday: San Antonio 88, Phoenix 85
Friday: at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday: at Phoenix, TBD, if necessary
UTAH VS. GOLDEN STATE
Jazz win series 4-1
May 7: Utah 116, Golden State 112
May 9: Utah 127, Golden State 117, OT
Friday: Golden State 125, Utah 105
Sunday: Utah 115, Golden State 101
Tuesday: Utah 100, Golden State 87
EASTERN CONFERENCE
DETROIT VS. CHICAGO
Pistons lead series 3-2
May 5: Detroit 95, Chicago 69
May 7: Detroit 108, Chicago 87
Thursday: Detroit 81, Chicago 74
Sunday: Chicago 102, Detroit 87
Tuesday: Chicago 108, Detroit 92
Today: at Chicago, 6 p.m.
Monday, May 21: at Detroit, TBD, if necessary
CLEVELAND VS. NEW JERSEY
Cavaliers lead series 3-2
May 6: Cleveland 81, New Jersey 77
May 8: Cleveland 102, New Jersey 92
Saturday: New Jersey 96, Cleveland 85
Monday: Cleveland 87, New Jersey 85
Wednesday: New Jersey 83, Cleveland 72
Friday: at New Jersey 5 p.m.
Sunday: at Cleveland, TBD, if necessary
