| Last-Second Heroics Favor Clippers Authored by Graham Flashner - January 26, 2007 - 10:43 am
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For the Nets, it was deja-vu all over again, the third time in as many games that they lost by a point in the final seconds. Monday in Sacramento, Mike Bibby beat them with 10.3 seconds left. Wednesday in Golden State, they blew an 11-point lead in the last four minutes and were beaten at the buzzer by Monta Ellis. Tonight, it was the Clippers who sprinted out to an 18-point first half lead, only to find themselves in a dogfight by the end, largely because they couldn’t contain Carter (33 points, 13-18 shooting).
“Carter was pretty amazing,” said Mike Dunleavy. “We tried multiple coverages and tried to trap him. Once he got rolling, they spread the court, and guys got open.”
No one benefited more than Nets forward Bostian Nachbar, who came off the bench to score 17 points, none bigger than the wide-open 3-pointer he made with 1:31 left to give the Nets a 100-97 lead. The play was set up by Carter, who drove down the right side of the lane, drew a swarm of Clippers, and threw an adroit pass out to Jason Kidd, who swung the ball to Nachbar in the corner.
The Nets had a 101-99 lead with 32.7 seconds left, but Kidd’s long jumper missed the rim, and the Nets were called for a shot-clock violation. That set up the Clippers final play with 8.7 seconds left.
“"Coach called a pick-and-roll and Sam got deep in the lane," Mobley said. "Luckily, Sam saw me. I set my feet and it went in.”
Said Cassell: “I was going to take the shot, but Vince came over to help. The easy part is making the pass. The hard part is knocking the shot down.”
Carter, who left Mobley to help out after Cassell drove by Marcus Williams, took the blame for the loss.
“We fought so hard to get to get back into the game and play as well as we did, and I screwed it up," said Carter. "It's just painful to lose it, but it's more painful for me to have a lapse like that and for us to lose it on my account.”
Carter almost pulled out a miracle of his own with 0.6 seconds left, but his tip of Jason Kidd’s inbounds pass bounced too hard off the backboard.
Early on, it didn’t seem like the game was going to matter in the final five minutes, much less the final seconds. After a sizzling first quarter, Carter went to the bench with foul trouble in the second, and the Clippers sprinted to a 17-point halftime lead. But the Nets, even without star forward Richard Jefferson (ankle surgery), kept coming, thanks to Carter’s 24 second-half points.
While the Nets dropped their 9th straight game in the Pacific Time Zone – a stretch going back over two years – the Clippers won their fourth in a row, a throwback to the kind of pressure games they won a year ago. They blocked 13 shots, had 11 steals, and dished out 27 assists, continuing a recent trend of improved ball movement.
“We definitely feel like we’re getting that momentum back,” said Elton Brand (18 points). “We’re in the 8th spot in the West – that’s what it’s about.” |
