Nets Cool Kevin Martin with Second-Half Surge Jan. 5, 2009 by Ben Couch - NJNETS.COM

East Rutherford, N.J. — Playing off the ball.

It's what four players do for most of every play, and Sacramento Kings guard Kevin Martin is one of the best in the league at doing so. New Jersey Nets coach Lawrence Frank says it's Martin and Rip Hamilton and then everyone else. Kings coach Kenny Natt calls him a great "reader," while Nets swingman Jarvis Hayes -- who would have been Martin's college teammate at Western Carolina had he not transferred to Georgia in 2001 -- calls it clinical.

"He's terribly efficient," Hayes said, pregame. "He doesn't handle the ball a lot, but when he gets in his zone, he goes to work pretty quickly. He's one (heck) of a player."

The Nets witnessed Martin prove Hayes' point by scoring 25 points on 8-of-9 shooting (4-4 3Ps) by halftime of Monday's at the IZOD Center. But Martin went cold, scoring only 11 points after halftime (3-12 FGs) as the Nets (17-18) erased a 13-point deficit to win, 98-90.

"If Martin would've kept the pace going, Wilt (Chamberlain) would've rose up," said Frank, half-joking in an allusion to the legend's 100-point game. "It was unbelievable. We just started trying to force him uphill, direct him. I think our bigs had an impact in it. Josh (Boone), Eduardo (Najera) and Yi (Jianlian), on those handoffs and those pick and rolls, were getting up, showing early, blitizing him at times, making some late switches, some blocks -- a lot of big things. Those guys just getting into his body and not giving him the airspace we were giving him. we just had to do a better job of being attached to him."

It was Martin's fourth game after missing 10 with a left ankle injury. He returned to the Kings (8-27) as a substitute, easing his way back to full strength. In Sacramento's previous three games, Martin averaged 28.3 points while shooting .450 from three and .415 overall. Martin's aggressive play in those games resulted in 32 free-throw attempts, and he sank every one.

Firing 9-for-29 in the first two games of the comeback might've led opponents to wonder whether Martin was back enough to contribute, but any doubts had to be wiped off the board after his 45-point explosion against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. Martin shot 13-of-24 from the field and 12-of-12 at the line, hit a career-high seven three-pointers (in 12 attempts) and assisted six buckets.

"I came back from an injury last year and played a couple of games off the bench," Martin said before the game. "So I watched film of how I played in those games. But it's all basketball once you get out there."

Martin didn't enter Monday's game until nearly six minutes had expired, but the first play couldn't have been more typical. Inbounding after a timeout, Martin floated toward the left side of the key before breaking baseline around a screen. Still going full speed, Martin accelerated past a second screen, popping out by the three-point line on the right wing.

But the ball didn't swing to him, and Martin drifted weakside toward the corner as the defender sagged off him. Kings point Beno Udrih, handling at the top left of the key, threw a pass that Martin collected while moving forward. He stopped, pulled up and swished the shot.

Though he clanked the second of two free throws late in the period, Martin didn't miss a shot until 6 1/2 remained in the first half. During that opening stretch, he nailed six shots -- three of them threes -- and four of five free throws. Martin's second miss didn't come until after halftime, when he bricked a three from the left corner three minutes in, beginning a run in which eight straight shots didn't hit their mark.

"Our intensity went up," explained Nets guard Keyon Dooling. "He pretty much embarrassed us in the first half. Singlehandedly, he came out and controlled the whole half. We had to do something to make him work, and collectively we did a good job on him."

The Nets' defensive strategy on Martin seemed consistent all game: play him one-on-one and sag when Martin was hanging out weakside, most often in the left corner or on the left wing. Barring a ball reversal pulling someone off their assignment, Martin didn't factor in most plays, even as a decoy. Once Dooling's aggressive defense tightened as Martin's shot left him in the third, the Kings' offense went with it. They attempted to free Martin by moving him around, but couldn't get him looks as clean as those he saw pre-intermission.

After dropping 37 in the second quarter, Sacramento scored 19 points in the third as Yi Jianlian (22 points, 13 rebounds) and Vince Carter (29 points, nine rebounds, seven assists) ignited the New Jersey offense, matching the Kings' 19 by themselves. The Nets totaled 29 points and finished the period down 74-72.

Martin's hand didn't warm until the final three minutes of the game, when he nailed a pair of pull-up jumpers on back-to-back possessions. But even with those buckets, the Kings trailed by six and the Nets closed out going away.

"Other teams make adjustments and we played differently than we did in the first half," Martin said. "We weren't really playing with each other and getting outworked, that's why it got away from us in the fourth. That's what happens."

<< Back to All Access News