BOSTON
The plan, as Eric Murdock saw it, was to come to Boston, play some with the Nets summer league entry. But he definitely would not play in back-to-back games after finally getting a medical OK on the right knee that helped obliterate his season.
So, naturally, the first thing he did was play in back-to-back games, Monday night and again yesterday afternoon.
"I felt pretty good coming in. The knee wasn't bothering me at all," said Murdock, who had six points, six rebounds and seven assists yesterday [in a 93-90 loss to a Washington squad coached by ex-Net coach Butch Beard] after a sensational 16 points, eight rebounds, four steals and seven assists against Seattle.
"I was probably going to play two games out of the first three," Murdock said.
So Murdock, who spent much of his time at two guard, will likely take today off and, with tomorrow being an off-day, give his knee ample rest.
"It is tough going back to back [after a lengthy layoff]," Murdock admitted. "I didn't have the quickness or movement I had in the first game. I'm not making excuses. You have some good games and some bad games. I'm very optimistic about how I've been playing."
Murdock, who will return to New Jersey to close on a house but intends to return here for weekend games, signed a three-year free-agent deal last pre-season to replace Sherman Douglas as the Nets' reserve point guard. But an opening night groin injury and subsequent knee woes limited him to just 15 games.
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Nets center Jim McIlvaine was cleared for contact after shoulder surgery. and will start practicing full tilt when summer league week ends .ñ.ñ. Same old Nets (even with names like Koul and Mercheriakov and Mutavdzic): New Jersey, leading by as many as 19 points in yesterday's loss to Washington. Lucious Harris led Nets with 17 points.