With the NBA on hiatus and New York continuing its battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak, Brooklyn Nets games will not be played for the foreseeable future.
For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.
Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight impressive individual performances and major moments throughout Nets history:
The Nets won a pair of close games on the road in Detroit, then the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals shifted to New Jersey — and the Pistons weren’t exactly made to feel right at home.
Kenyon Martin got things started in the first quarter, scoring 14 of the Nets’ 28 first-quarter points. From there, Jason Kidd took the reins, scoring 10 in the second quarter and 11 in the third as the Net took the first double-digit win on the series, knocking off the Pistons 97-85 (full box score).
Kidd finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, four steals and a blocked shot. Martin scored 19, grabbed six boards and had three blocks.
“We played their game up there. We wanted to play our game at home,” Martin said after the win. “The games up there were too close, and we wanted to come up here and get a little distance between us and them. We did a great job of that early. We didn’t look back from there.”
Lucious Harris scored 10 off the Nets’ bench, as did Anthony Johnson.