Believe it or not, there was a time when the Nets were competing on the league’s highest stage, competing against the best teams in the NBA Finals. In their history as an NBA team, Brooklyn has appeared in the NBA Finals twice as the New Jersey Nets.
Unfortunately, the Nets went 0-2 with losses to the Lakers and Spurs in 2002 and 2003, but with the 2024 NBA Finals approaching, it’s only natural to look back and appreciate their greatness. Below are the Nets’ five best individual performances in NBA Finals history.
In one of the few NBA Finals wins in Nets history, Kmart outplayed nearly every Spurs player except Tim Duncan while trailing 2-1 at Continental Airlines Arena. Martin made two crucial free throws with just over a minute left to put New Jersey up 73-72 and held the lead until the end of the game to win 77-76.
The All-Star forward was outstanding defensively, recording three blocks and one steal in the Finals, while also tallying a career-high 13 rebounds.
Hall of Famer Jason Kidd will get most of the credit for the win, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, but Martin’s two-way performance and double-double earn him the MVP award of the game.
Kidd led both teams as the leading scorer in one of his more memorable passing performances, and the Hall of Fame point guard came through when it mattered, hitting a mid-range jump shot with 1:15 left and then making 5 of 6 free throws at key moments to seal the two-point victory.
It was New Jersey’s first Finals win in franchise history and showed the Spurs were a team to be reckoned with despite a 49-33 record. Kidd gave Nets fans hope that they would return to Continental Airlines Arena for Game 3.
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal combined for 71 points, 17 rebounds and eight blocks, and Kidd was the offensive spark that kept them in the game again. Kidd scored 50 of New Jersey’s 103 points in a game that ended with a missed three-pointer from No. 5.
It’s commendable that they put up such a valiant effort against a team that was way behind early in the series. Kidd kept New Jersey in the game, but people forget that without his crucial three-pointer to cut the lead to one with 5.2 seconds left, the game wouldn’t have been decided until the final shot.
Though the series ended in a sweep, the Nets never went down without a fight in the 2002 Finals. Despite losing by six points, K-Mart came out and did the dirty work for New Jersey, grabbing a team-leading 11 rebounds.
Martin’s 35 points, on 53.7 percent shooting and zero three-pointers, are still impressive numbers in today’s game. That was the end of New Jersey’s magical 2001-02 season, when the team went 52-30 and clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
In the opening game of the Nets’ first Finals appearance, Kidd, the team’s point guard, showed off his talent by recording the team’s only triple-double in Finals history, including a game-high three steals in a 99-94 loss.
Kidd’s passing performance must be highlighted — he dished out 10 assists and committed just one turnover — but it’s also worth noting that he grabbed six offensive rebounds, which led to six second-chance points for the Nets.
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