Could it be a Kings-Nets affair?

One might want to ask thyself what exactly the New Jersey Nets and the Boston Celtics are trying to achieve. In the last three games it has been the Nets who have jumped out to the lead only to have the Celtics mount a strong comeback before we get into the real game; can the Nets hold on? With the teams following such a common theme it almost feels scripted to the point where we expect the Nets to create a lead and for the Celtics to come back.

New Jersey could not in Game 2 when Boston stole the win, coming back from 21 down at the third quarter break to create history, but in the last two games – last night included – it was the Nets who were able to hold on to create a three games to two buffer and more importantly move within one game of a trip to the NBA Finals.

"One win from going to the finals is a heck of an achievement," Nets Coach Byron Scott said. "But we still haven't achieved anything yet. Our objective is to get there. Not get one game away from there."

"It ain't over," responded Celtics guard Kenny Anderson. "It definitely ain't over. We've got Friday. We've got to come at it real hard Friday."

"We didn't lose the game because of (the start)," Antoine Walker said. "We lost the game because they switched to a zone, threw our rhythm off a little bit. We were prepared for it, but not as much as they played it."

Out West there is another interesting battle in progress, the Sacramento Kings overcoming their own woes to, like the Nets in the East, hold a three games to two advantage over their opponent. The Lakers are lucky to even remain in the contest, a little luck and a twist of fate allowing Robert Horry to hit the game winning three pointer to sink the Kings by one solitary point in Game 4. Horry, camped outside the arc, barely moving to catching the ball slapped by the Kings Vlade Divac under the basket off a Shaquille O’Neal lay up, caught and shot the ball in one motion as time expired to bail out the Lakers after both Kobe and Shaq had missed their chances to send the game into overtime.

Despite lucky breaks and being facing elimination in Game 6 Friday Los Angeles, in many people’s eyes, still remain the favorites. Each game thus far has been relatively close and each game could have went either way. The total margin from the last two games is only two points, the lowest margin possible, which shows how close this series has been, but despite having to win the next two games in order to keep their season alive the Lakers still believe they will overcome the odds.

"They've been better in three games," Rick Fox said. "We've been better in two. So we plan to be better on Friday and have it all wash out on Sunday."

"The TV doesn't lie," Robert Horry said. "Video doesn't lie. You can see certain things that should have been our way. Same way (the Kings) felt about my shot (in Game 4). They snuck one, we snuck one. So we're even."

It has been an entertaining third round of the playoffs, that is for certain. But can both the Lakers and the Celtics back up their talk and take the next two games, including the seventh game on the road? For now the ball is on their own courts, and only they can stop the 2002 NBA Finals from being a Kings-Nets affair.

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Sacramento Kings, New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics

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Celtics fans go too far with Kidd, Nets?

It is common practice in each NBA arena for the supporters of the home team to ‘heckle’ with players from the opposition, in most occasions the star player. Players accept this as part of the job, a part of being thrust into the limelight. Just as the ability of each player can vary the aggressiveness of each fan cannot be grouped together either, but a case could be made in both instances that if one person leads others will follow. It might be a part of the game, but when does it get too much?

Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets believe that the fans at the Fleet Center in Boston did cross that invisible line two nights ago after supporters taunted the New Jersey star as a ‘wife beater’. Kidd said he can take the abuse reports Fred Kerber of the New York Post, but the fact that his wife and three year old child were seated near the hecklers was the part that worried Kidd.

The comments did have some truth to them, stemming from an incident from 2001 where Kidd, then with the Phoenix Suns, was arrested on domestic abuse charges for allegedly striking wife Joumana in the mouth after an argument.

"It bothers me because I can't protect them in the sense of me playing," Kidd said. "I'm worried about them, but at the same time, I'm trying to win a ball game. They should enjoy it as much as the people in Boston should."

Kidd was not the only one out of the Nets camp disappointed with the chants.

"Obviously, there are people who are idiots," said Net coach Byron Scott. "That's hitting below the belt."

"Ignorance. A- -hole people, man. This is a man's personal life," said Kenyon Martin. "I heard Joumana was sitting by one guy, and he had that [stuff] painted on him. You don't need [stuff] like that, man. If you saw him on the street, he probably wouldn't say nothing to nobody . . . He probably ain't got no friends."

Kidd realizes that right now these are only words coming out of the stands, but still has a fear that something even worse could be on the horizon.

"Some people might be impaired, so their judgment could be altered a little bit. In that case, you never know what can happen." What is happening, according to Gerry Callahan of the Boston Herald, is that Kidd is getting what he deserves.

‘There was one thing the hecklers who went after Kidd most definitely were not: Wrong. If you want to sympathize with a victim of cruel, vicious hecklers, save it for Mike Piazza. Jason Kidd is guilty as charged,’ writes Callahan.

‘Kidd is a wife-beater, confessed and convicted, and it's hard to imagine that anything a heckler shouts could be more evil than what the man did to his family a year and a half ago.’

So did the Boston fans really go too far with their debacle in front of Kidd’s wife and child, including the person who went as far as to paint ‘wife-beater’ on his back, or is Kidd and the Nets just being thin-skinned? There is a fine line between acceptable and unacceptable, and in this case only you can decide.

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New Jersey Nets, Boston Celtics

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Kidd felt his family was 'in jeopardy' in Boston

Apparently Jason Kidd has more to hate about Boston than the cockiness of the Celtic players.

According to Chris Sheridan of the Associated Press, Kidd felt that his wife Joumana and three year old son, T. J., were 'in jeopardy' from the Boston crowd on Monday.

"It bothers me. I can't protect them. I'm worried about them at the same time I'm worried about trying to win a ballgame," Kidd said. "You can't do that to somebody's family, put them in jeopardy for their safety. They came there to enjoy the game just like (Celtics fans) did."

I personally did see the fans with "wife-beater" written across their backs. The men sat in front of Kidd's family and would stand up to incite the crowd in taunts. While I feel this is a classless move on the fans part, Boston has always competed with the animals of Philly and New York for having the most viscious fans.

As for Kidd's comments that he felt worried about the safety of his wife and child, I feel he has little to worry about. Boston crowds are pretty peaceful in the stands when it comes to women and children, and there hasn't been major violence in the stands since the Patriots played on MNF in the '80s.

While I can't say what Kidd is feeling, I can go to that old refrain of "the media is to blame." Kidd's domestic abuse charges were well documented (as should be), but NBC is constantly showing Joumana in the crowd, mainly because she is hotter than most of the cheerleaders. TJ has also been thrust into the public eye as a local Jersey paper runs a "TJ Watch" and Kidd himself has brought his son to the podium for a post-game press conference.

Kidd, who paid a fine and attended anger management classes for striking his wife in January of 2001, said that he could personally deal with the chant of "wife-beater," but felt that his wife should be left alone.

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Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets

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