Stat-machine Kidd ignites Nets with rebounding flair

	Jason Kidd (23 points, 14 assists, 13 rebounds) was one of four Nets to score in double figures against the Cavaliers. AP

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- "If we don't rebound we can't win."

A simple statement pounded into the head of every player from every coach they've ever had. And prior to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Nets and Cavaliers, New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank took out that hammer to a team that had been outrebounded 100-69 in the series' first two games. The Nets got the message to the tune of 43 rebounds -- 13 more than Cleveland grabbed -- and rolled to a 96-85 home victory on Saturday. For a team using a lineup in which no one stands taller than 6-foot-10, the Nets' work on the glass, as all great rebounders will admit, was not built on size, but effort.

"They boxed out," said Cavs coach Mike Brown of the Nets' effort on the boards. "Every time a shot went up, I was looking at bodies; and they had two bodies on Z[ydrunas] Ilgauskas and two bodies on Drew [Gooden]. Even their smalls got down and dirty." Nobody got dirtier than Jason Kidd, whose game-high 13 rebounds was part of a triple-double performance that served to remind how the Nets' aging superstar guard can virtually still win a game by himself.

Converting 5-of-6 three-pointers, Kidd betrayed little of the 34 years he has in his bones. Kidd was hot from the start, converting two consecutive triples in the opening minutes to push New Jersey to an early 14-4 lead. "He was very aggressive," said LeBron James in assessing Kidd's 11th playoff triple-double. "He wasn't second-guessing himself when he was shooting the ball. ... he was a scorer first and a passer second."

But most important, he cleaned the glass. Long one of the game's best-rebounding point guards, Kidd went after Cleveland misses as if they were coated in gold, helping New Jersey limit the Cavs to a mere five offensive rebounds and six second-chance points. For a Cavaliers team that only shot 41.4 percent from the floor in Game 3, the missed opportunities they had grown accustomed to in the first two games was particularly painful.

"Our initial defense in terms of our containment was better," said Frank of why New Jersey likely won the rebounding battle. "We [were] in less help situations. Mikki, [Moore], Twin (Jason Collins) and Richard [Jefferson] were in the trenches. I have to give those guys credit for hitting first and initiating the contact. And then Vince [Carter] and [Jason] came back and crashed the boards. I think it was just a more concerted effort."

New Jersey was quick to double-team Cleveland's post players early, even off of James. The strategy turned the Cavs into the jump-shooting team they really aren't, as a 27 -ercent shooting mark in the first quarter and the overall percentage again proved.

Further, the Nets' effort on the boards also helped fuel their fast break, an essential part of an offense that doesn't have a consistent interior presence. "We limited them to one shot [a lot], which allowed us to get out and run," said Frank.

And run the Nets did, to 20 fast-break points, one more than they scored in the first two games -- combined.

"One area we were concerned with was their ability to get out and run, especially at home," said Brown. "And they did that. It all started with their physical aggressiveness at the beginning of the game."

They also ran back into this series, a reality Kidd attributed to that hammering sound he and his teammates have heard for the last three days. "We all understood coming into this game that we have to rebound the ball if we want to win."

See, sometimes a coach does know what he's talking about.

NOTES: With the Nets happily trotting off to Brooklyn, it seems their current fans are already running off somewhere else. While a constant din of piped-in music suggested otherwise, plenty of good seats were empty -- despite an announced sellout of 20,032 -- even by the start of the second quarter. We'll cut Nets fans a break on this one, though; traveling to perhaps the most faceless, antiseptic arena in the league on a 70-degree sunny day to watch a club heatedly counting down the days until they move to Brooklyn cannot be the most appealing option on Mother's Day weekend. ... Who says highly paid entertainers don't know the value of a buck? In one corner of the Cavs' locker room prior to Game 2, two players excitedly talked about the possibility of winning a set of custom-made golf clubs at a replica set-up (at New York's Rockefeller Center) of the famed 17th green from the Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass. In another corner, one of Cleveland's big men expressed disbelief at running up a $180 tab for sushi on Friday night. The Nets largely spent the pregame media availability in the trainer's room.