Elimination by the Heat exposed some of New Jersey Nets' weaknesses

A season of positive developments for the New Jersey Nets is sure to be overshadowed by late-game failures in their Eastern Conference semifinal series loss to Miami.
"It's very disappointing," forward Richard Jefferson said after the Heat sent the Nets home with a 106-105 victory in Game 5 Tuesday night in Miami. "They were the better team. They made plays when they needed to. I've never been part of a series where we've been so close."
Some might say the Nets were a few shots or defensive stops away from playing evenly with the Heat. Others could say that the Nets' inability to make plays in the fourth quarter shows how wide the gap remains between them and teams like Miami and Detroit.
It wasn't hard to notice a pattern to the Nets' losses.
In its final three losses, New Jersey had numerous opportunities to take control in the final quarter. In each case, the Heat collectively seized the moment.
That mastery was reflected in the following statistic: of the 36 minutes spanning the fourth quarters of games 3, 4 and 5, the Nets held the lead for just over four minutes, all in Game 3 - but spent about 17 minutes within a shot of tying the game or going ahead.
The trend was especially noticeable in the final two games, when New Jersey was within three points or less for a total of nearly 15 minutes but never took the lead.
"It's hard right now to think about the season," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "I'm just disappointed. I thought we had a tremendous effort. As we see in the playoffs, it's a game of inches. We're sitting here having lost 4-1. I could have done a better job and maybe it could have been the other way around."
If the Miami series exposed the Nets' shortcomings - chief among them a suspect defence and a thin bench that shrank considerably when Clifford Robinson was suspended for violating the league's substance-abuse policy - the regular season and a first-round win over Indiana spotlighted their strengths.
Vince Carter fit in well in his first full season with the team and was frequently spectacular, as in his 51-point effort in a Dec. 23 win at Miami. In the first round against Indiana, he proved equally willing to share the ball, averaging nearly two assists per game more than he did during the regular season.
In his second NBA season, Nenad Krstic continued his development into a front-line big man. The seven-footer from Serbia and Montenegro improved his scoring and rebounding averages by 3.5 points and 1.1 rebounds, respectively. He also shed his soft image and played more aggressively around the basket.
Jason Kidd continued to prove that, at 33, he is still one of the league's elite point guards. He finished fifth in the league in assists per game (8.4) - and fourth in assists per turnover (3.5) - and was named to the NBA's all-defensive team for the fourth time.
Frank mixed and matched his rotation well during the regular season and shepherded the team through separate winning streaks of 10 and 14 games. The Nets finished 49-33, seven games better than last season.
For next season, New Jersey will have to take a hard look at its bench. By the end of the regular season, Frank had all but stopped using Scott Padgett, Zoran Planinic, Antoine Wright and Bostjan Nachbar, and the four combined to play 26 minutes in the 11 playoff games.
A key move last off-season may have been the one the Nets didn't make. They had agreed to sign free-agent forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim but balked when a physical revealed knee problems. Abdur-Rahim later signed with Sacramento and averaged 12 points and five rebounds for the Kings.
The Heat, who picked up Antoine Walker, Gary Payton, Jason Williams and James Posey before the season, can offer a model to emulate. All four made significant contributions against the Nets