NBA playoffs
Nets take 3-2 lead over Celtics EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – After letting a 20-point lead drop to one, the New Jersey Nets used a 20-1 run to make certain it wouldn’t happen again.
Taking control of the game with stunning quickness, the Nets pulled away from the Boston Celtics in the fourth quarter to a 103-92 victory Wednesday night that gave them a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
With one more win, the Nets will be going for their first title since the days when they played with a red, white and blue basketball.
Jason Kidd was the star of the show once again for the Nets, who got out to a big early lead for the third consecutive game. Kidd finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, and his jumper with 9:30 remaining started New Jersey on the game-clinching run.
By the time Keith Van Horn ended the 20-1 burst with two 3-pointers, the Nets had turned a 74-73 lead into a 94-73 advantage with 5:36 left. The Nets began celebrating, but not too emphatically.
The former ABA franchise still needs one more victory to make it to the NBA Finals for the first time since entering the league in 1976. They’ll go for it Friday night at Boston in Game 6.
New Jersey, which lost all of a 26-point lead in Game 3, showed once again that it appears to be the deeper and more talented team, getting 21 points from Kerry Kittles and 19 each from Van Horn and Kenyon Martin.
Paul Pierce scored 24 points for Boston, none in the fourth quarter.