Lakers 99
Nets 95
The night had such promise for the Nets. It ended pretty much with disaster.
The Nets lost center Nenad Krstic to an apparent serious left knee injury as whispers of ACL damage filtered through the locker room. If that wasn’t enough of a downer, the Nets lost, 99-95, to the Lakers, despite a furious fourth-quarter rally that brought them to within a Vince Carter missed 3-pointer of probable overtime.
“I went to spin, my knee twisted and I heard a pop,” said Krstic who left the Meadowlands in a wheelchair and will have an MRI today while his teammates are in Milwaukee for tonight’s game with the Bucks.
So the defeat, despite an ailing Kobe Bryant (21 points, season-high 11 assists) shooting just 4-of-13 for L.A., didn’t seem that important. Neither did the end of the two-game win streak. Or the comeback from 13 down with 2:57 left, falling short. All were secondary to the injury to Krstic, the Nets’ No. 2 scorer with 16.4 per game.
“From the naked eye, it doesn’t look good,” sighed coach Lawrence Frank, whose team already is woefully thin up front, having lost Cliff Robinson to a knee injury Nov. 18 and subsequent surgery.
“That’s going to be a tough one. They’ll do an MRI and we’ll see what happens,” team president Rod Thorn said.
“I just heard it pop,” said Carter (33 points). “I just feel bad for him. He’s been an unbelievable asset.”
The Nets already have been rocked by injuries to Jefferson, Robinson, Eddie House, Josh Boone and Mikki Moore. Without another move, their center depth has power forward Jason Collins plus rookies Mile Ilic and Josh Boone, who have combined to play 13:31 – or less than half of a “Seinfeld” rerun. Serenity now, all you close-talkers.
“Everybody has to pick up the slack,” said Jason Kidd (16 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds). “He couldn’t put any pressure on his knee. So for that, you hope for a sprain, and that’s the best-case scenario, and you go from there.”
Krstic hit the floor and the crowd went silent at the 6:08 mark of the third quarter. Krstic tried to post up Kwame Brown and took an entry pass from Jefferson (18 points). One move and he lost the ball and immediately went to the floor, clutching his knee in obvious pain.
“I had a pretty good view,” Jefferson said. “Just the way he turned and came back, I actually stopped for like two seconds because I was more concerned with him than the fast break going the other end. You could just tell by the way he turned and came back and threw the ball and went straight down. It wasn’t like an ankle or a twist or a slip or anything.”
Krstic stayed down until Ilic and Boone gently raised him upright. But Krstic could place no weight on the leg and needed assistance to get back to the locker room. So a rotten night became worse.
A Marcus Williams 3-pointer with 8:49 left forged an 83-83 tie, thanks in part to three straight Lakers turnovers – L.A. had 19, the Nets just five. Then it came apart. The Nets went into a 1-of-10 shooting funk – Carter’s jumper at 6:02 representing the only score between Williams’ triple and Moore’s three-point play at 2:48. But before Moore scored, the Lakers built a 98-85 lead.
Then it was L.A.’s turn to fret. Jefferson hit a couple baskets and the Lakers had six straight misses. Kidd sank a 3-pointer at :37.6 and it was 98-95. A stout defensive stand resulted in a tough shot – and miss – by Bryant and a Nets timeout at :14.4. Maurice Evans fouled at :06.3, so the Nets in-bounded again and Carter got a brief, but open, look. His three hit the back of the rim. Bryant rebounded and added one free throw.
“I let it go and it looked like it was going in,” Carter said.
Appearances deceived all night.