It came and went without fanfare. We were busy re-gifting Aunt Mabel’s holiday fruitcake, forwarding it to another generation of unsuspecting victims. But Dec. 28 represented the eighth anniversary of an all-time benchmark of Nets futility.
The Milt Palacio game with Boston.
Yeah, “that” game, Dec. 28, 2000. The one that sent Rod Thorn into a rage. The one that sent Lucious Harris to tears. The one where people looked back and said, “What the heck was Vladimir Stepania doing playing 19 minutes?”
“One of the worst losses I can recall since I’ve been here,” Thorn said. “We lost more meaningful games. But the way we lost that game?”
So with the Celtics in the Meadowlands today and a fruitcake on its way to North Carolina, it seemed like as good a time to revisit a Nets moment as numbing as drafting Dennis Hopson with Reggie Miller on the board.
“Your heart just goes to your feet,” recalled Lawrence Frank, then a Nets’ assistant under Byron Scott. “It was such a sinking feeling. But I felt most horrible for Lucious because he felt so bad.”
After 47 minutes, 58.2 seconds, the Nets had the lead. And the ball. Antoine Walker had hit a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left to get the Celtics within
110-109. While the Nets sought to inbound, the Celts held and Stephon Marbury hit a free throw. It was 111-109, still with 1.8 seconds left. All the Nets had to do was inbound.
“Lucious was one of our smarter players. All he had to do was throw into the frontcourt. They had no timeouts,” Thorn said. “He could have said, ‘Hey Antoine Walker. Here’s the ball,’ and given it to him.
“They had no time to do anything.”
Harris, a valued bench contributor in the Nets’ two Finals trips, sought to inbound after a Nets timeout.
“The last thing we said was, ‘Throw the ball that way,’ ” Scott said, meaning into the Nets’ frontcourt. “Don’t throw it to halfcourt.”
Harris, trying for Aaron Williams, threw it to halfcourt. Actually, he threw it to the Celtics side of halfcourt. The ball ticked off Williams’ fingers. Palacio intercepted the ball and wanted to pass.
Teammates waved him off. He flung off-balance from 30 feet.
“I didn’t see it go in. I was falling down,” Palacio said afterward of the only shot he attempted in 17 minutes. And it was the first 3-pointer of Palacio’s career, and it delivered the Nets a stunning 112-111 loss.
“I screwed up,” a red-eyed Harris said.
No one disputed that, least of all Thorn, who was heard railing in the coach’s office.
“I was irate,” Thorn acknowledged.
“It was my fault. I thought [Williams] was open. He went that way. I threw it this way,” Harris said. “Did my heart sink? Shoot, I’ve got to find my heart. I’ve shed a lot of tears. This was my worst moment in the league.”
Even worse than finding a fruitcake under the tree.