Finals approach

Climb aboard the Nets Express while there's still room

People get ready, there's a train coming -- five months from now, when the New Jersey Nets are playing the L.A. Lakers in the NBA Finals. You'll be howling like a crazed coyote for the underdogs and someone will ask you, "So, how long have you been a Nets fan?" And you'll say, "Why forever," by which you'll mean since Feb. 4, 2002, the night New Jersey welcomed the Sacramento Kings to the Meadowlands swamp and gave them a whupping like you read about.

That would be Nets 117, Kings 83, and I don't want to hear about how it was the second of back-to-back road games for Sacramento, which swaggered in with the league's best record. Really good teams, and the Kings are one of them, don't make excuses. Said Sacramento forward Chris Webber, "They beat our butts."

There's no doubt about it, this New Jersey team is for real. Sure, some aficionados say they've been onto the Nets (32-14) for days, even weeks now. But it is today that the bandwagon officially rolls up outside your house and opens its doors. Don't need no ticket folks, just get on board.

There's plenty of room here because the core of longtime Nets fans -- the folks who recall being aided by a Long Island Doctor named Julius, the choir that sang the praises of Otis Birdsong, the faithful who went to bed each night and thanked their maker that at least the Nets had Buck Williams -- is a small, inconspicuous bunch. Even as they lead the Eastern Conference, the Nets average only slightly more than 11,000 fans at their home games. That's the worst attendance mark in the NBA outside of lame-duck Charlotte. When you hear people talking about the Nets, it's usually when they're reviving old Mookie Blaylock jokes. "People don't understand," New Jersey coach Byron Scott has been saying and saying and saying. "We have a good basketball team."

Well, sure, but the Nets in the Finals? I've got to be kidding, right? Right. Playmaker Jason Kidd, who is polishing his kicks for his fifth All-Star appearance this weekend in Philadelphia, has come in and rebelled against the Nets' well-entrenched culture of losing. Everyone snickered last summer when Kidd talked about how happy he was to be in New Jersey and how much he liked the state and how good the team could be. That snickering faded about 10 games into the season. Kidd is splendid to watch, a primetime player, and has worked so hard to reform his image after a domestic abuse charge last season in Phoenix, that it's cool to root for him again. Without Kidd, the Nets -- a team without a scoring star -- would be stuck at .500.

The Nets aren't going to Finals just because of Kidd. They're going to the Finals because they have an elbow-slinging forward in Kenyon Martin who averages 16 points and about that many flagrant fouls per game. They're going to Finals because Reggie Jefferson thinks he can be the NBA's Rookie of the Year (he averages 8.9 points a game) and nobody's quite laughing at him. They're going to the Finals because guard Kerry Kittles is so dang tired of being injured and so dang tired of being a disappointment that he's going to steal the ball out of your hands and find ways to win even when his shots aren't dropping.

The Nets going to the Finals because of scenes like this: After going four games without scoring in double digits, Keith Van Horn spent a practice moving slowly and thoughtfully around the court. He looked at the basket, measured a shot, then lowered the ball. He dribbled deliberately. He talked in earnest to Kittles. He examined and evaluated his game. Last year, faced with the same situation, Van Horn would have disappeared into a mope. This year he came out and knocked down 25 points against the Kings.

The Nets are going to the Finals because they play team D.

The Nets are going the Finals because there's no one in the East to stop them. The Central Division-leading Bucks? The Nets thumped Milwaukee 125-100 last week.

The defending conference champion 76ers? That ordinary bunch may have ridden Allen Iverson to last year's Finals but they're so dependent on him (the Sixers are 0-7 when Iverson's out of the lineup) that they can't begin to match New Jersey's offensive and defensive depth.

The 28-20 Toronto Raptors? Try Nets 98, Toronto 91 last Saturday night.

The 27-20 Boston Celtics? Please. After the Super Bowl, are we to believe a miracle can happen twice in New England?

The Nets have three dozen games left before the postseason, which gives you plenty of time to get to know them. You'll like them. They're fun, they're good and they just manhandled a team that's leading the godlike Lakers by two games out West. Climb aboard the victory train folks. Then when the Nets get to the Finals, you can say that you knew it all along.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy takes sides every Tuesday at CNNSI.com. The thoughts expressed here are solely those of the writer.

 

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