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Clearing the air Martin backs off critical comments of Van HornPosted: Thursday June 13, 2002 10:43 PMEAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The New Jersey Nets' offseason will have neither a championship nor controversy. One day after the Los Angeles Lakers ended the Nets' NBA title hopes in a four-game sweep, the controversy that arose after the final game was also put to rest. New Jersey forward Kenyon Martin admitted he made a mistake questioning the heart of some of his teammates. "I said some things last night that I probably shouldn't have said," Martin said Thursday. "I was a little disappointed, so the emotions got over me a little bit. But, we had a great year. We had a good run. It's been fun." It didn't sound like fun on Wednesday night after Martin scored a career-high 35 points in the 113-107 loss in Game 4. "I can deal with losing," Martin said. "But guys who don't bring it every day, that's something I can't deal with." Martin never identified who he was talking about, but it was obvious it was fellow forward Keith Van Horn. Martin told people to look at the statistics, and Van Horn scored seven points in the final game. While Martin said he planned to apologize, Van Horn downplayed the incident. He said he didn't care if Martin apologized and it would not put a damper on a season that saw the Nets win 52 games after missing the playoffs the year before. "I don't look at it as a big deal," Van Horn said. "It was a frustrating loss, but you have to look at the whole picture. The whole picture is that we had a great season, we accomplished a lot and we have room to grow." Jason Kidd, who said after the game there was some merit to Martin's comment, backed off on Thursday. He said he agreed with Martin because he didn't want him out on an island by himself. "This team has grown so much since October, it doesn't take anybody to help mend anything," Kidd said Thursday. "It just happens." Nets coach Byron Scott and general manager Rod Thorn both spoke to Martin on Thursday. "I think he was way out of line," Thorn said. "One of the things that really made us this year is we played and acted like a team. The sum of our parts has been better than the individual parts all year long and for a statement to be made like that I think he was very frustrated." Scott said he would have liked more contributions from some players, but he felt everyone played just as hard in the playoffs as they did in the regular season when New Jersey used an uptempo game to win their first Eastern Conference championship. Looking to next year, Scott said the Nets have to improve their rebounding and establish a presence in the post, something that only Martin gave them in the last two games. Being one of the youngest teams in the league, the Nets should also expect improvement from Martin and rookies Richard Jefferson and Jason Collins. Todd MacCulloch also will provide more if he bulks up a little more. "I think we can win the NBA Finals with this team intact," Scott said. "I think the year of just having this experience is going to go a long ways for us. The other thing I told our guys is that we won't sneak up on anybody. That is why we've got to get better as individuals, we've got to really work our butts off this summer." The Nets will head into the offseason with all their top players under contract. The big question will come after next season when Kidd will become an unrestricted free agent. "I think Jason knows how much we really want him to stay in New Jersey," Scott said. "I think this is a great place for him and his family and obviously we have gotten some success this season and hopefully it is going to continue."
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