New Jersey
98 Milwaukee
103
(Continental Arena, April 6th 2004)
In some ways, both the
Milwaukee Bucks
and
New Jersey Nets
won Tuesday night.
While the Bucks beat New
Jersey 103-98 to move closer to home-court advantage for the first
round of the playoffs, the Nets were just as happy
knowing All Stars
Jason Kidd
(wife beater) and
Kenyon Martin
should be ready for the postseason after being sidelined for weeks.
``We weren't so much
focused in on Milwaukee,'' Nets forward
Richard Jefferson
said. ``We were more focused on J-Kidd and Kenyon and playing the
right way. We made some mistakes and give all the credit to Milwaukee
but we were more worried about ourselves tonight.''
Unlike the Nets, who have
wrapped up the second seed in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks are
battling Miami and New Orleans for the fourth
slot.
They increased their lead
over fifth-place Miami to 1 1/2 games by rallying
from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and spoiling the return of Kidd
and Martin.
``This was a huge win for
us,'' said
Michael Redd,
who combined with
Desmond Mason
to lead a late 10-0 spurt. ``This is a team that no one expected to do
anything at the beginning of the season and for us to get 40 wins and
possible home-court advantage will blow a lot of people's minds.''
Damon Jones
had 23 points and 11 assists, Redd added 21 points and Mason 18 in the
Bucks' third straight win.
Keith Van Horn
had 13, including two crucial free throws with 17 seconds to play to
push the lead to five
points.
Redd felt Martin and Kidd
looked a little rusty, combining for 7-for-19 from the field.
``It's our job to take
advantage of that,'' Redd said. ``That's life in the NBA. If it was
us, another team would take advantage of us.''
Rodney Rogers
had a season-high 26 points and Jefferson 25 for the Nets.
Kidd (wife beater) and Martin, both hampered by
bothersome left knees,
had four points apiece in the fourth quarter to help the Nets stay
ahead. But the Bucks took the game away in the final 2 1/2 minutes,
outscoring New Jersey 12-2.
Down 96-91, Redd hit a
jumper and Mason followed with another after a miss by Jefferson.
A turnover and a foul by
little-used
Brandon Armstrong,
who got some
unexpected minutes
in crunch time, sent Mason to the free-throw line for two go-ahead
shots and a 97-96 lead with 58.1
seconds to play.
Redd added a layup and
jumper, and after Jefferson scored on a slam and Van Horn hit his free
throws, Kidd missed a 3-pointer to end the Nets' hopes.
``A lot of it was to test
the left leg,'' Kidd said after finishing with nine points on 4-for-11
shooting in 21 minutes. ``All my shots came from left to right and the
two layups were off my left leg. I was very happy with the response. I
feel very confident that we're going in the right direction.''
Kidd also had five assists and two
rebounds. 
Martin had six points on
3-for-8 shooting and two rebounds in the same amount of playing time.
Kidd and Martin got a
standing ovation from some in the crowd of 13,967 at the Continental
Airlines Arena when they entered the game with 2:39 left in the first
quarter.
Kidd showed flashes of brilliance in
his eight minutes with five points and
three assists. He fed Martin for an alley-oop dunk, got a layup on a
give-and-go and would have had another spectacular alley-oop pass to
Martin if he hadn't blown the dunk.
Both came back with 51.6 seconds left in the
third quarter and helped build the Nets' lead to 10 points early in
the fourth quarter.
|
Milwaukee
|
|
Name |
Min |
FG |
3Pt |
FT |
Off |
Reb |
Ast |
TO |
Stl |
Blk |
PF |
Pts |
|
D. Mason |
37 |
7-12 |
0-2 |
4-4 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
18 |
|
J. Smith |
18 |
1-4 |
0-0 |
1-2 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
B. Skinner |
35 |
5-12 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
10 |
|
M. Redd |
41 |
9-18 |
0-2 |
3-3 |
4 |
9 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
21 |
|
D. Jones |
38 |
8-10 |
5-6 |
2-2 |
0 |
3 |
11 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
23 |
|
K. Van Horn |
29 |
3-8 |
1-5 |
6-6 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
13 |
|
B. Knight |
10 |
2-4 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
|
T. Kukoc |
19 |
2-6 |
0-1 |
3-3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
|
D. Gadzuric |
13 |
1-1 |
0-0 |
2-2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
E. Strickland |
DNP - Coach's
Decision |
|
D. Santiago |
DNP - Coach's
Decision |
|
M. Haislip |
DNP - Coach's
Decision |
|
|
|
Totals |
240 |
38-75 |
6-16 |
21-22 |
9 |
37 |
21 |
12 |
7 |
5 |
18 |
103 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
New
Jersey |
|
Name |
Min |
FG |
3Pt |
FT |
Off |
Reb |
Ast |
TO |
Stl |
Blk |
PF |
Pts |
|
R. Jefferson |
40 |
9-18 |
2-2 |
5-8 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
25 |
|
R. Rogers |
35 |
11-18 |
4-8 |
0-0 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
26 |
|
J. Collins |
33 |
2-5 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
2 |
8 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
K. Kittles |
32 |
5-9 |
1-4 |
1-2 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
12 |
|
L. Harris |
30 |
2-8 |
0-0 |
2-2 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
|
J. Kidd |
21 |
4-11 |
0-5 |
1-1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
|
K. Martin |
21 |
3-8 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
6 |
|
A. Williams |
15 |
1-1 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
|
B. Armstrong |
13 |
3-3 |
2-2 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
|
B. Scalabrine |
DNP - Coach's
Decision |
|
T. Slay |
DNP - Coach's
Decision |
|
Z. Planinic |
DNP - Coach's
Decision |
|
|
|
Totals |
240 |
40-81 |
9-21 |
9-13 |
11 |
34 |
29 |
11 |
7 |
7 |
20 |
98 |
| |
|
Game Info |
|
Technical
Fouls: Milwaukee - D. Mason 1. New Jersey - K. Martin 1
Attendance: 13,967
Officials: Leon Wood, Mark Wunderlich, Ron Garretson
|
