May 8, 200422 yr If Jason Kidd and Ben Wallace never score another basket in their second-round playoff series, then we might finally see some scoring between the Nets and Pistons. Detroit blew out New Jersey in Game 1, 78-56, because its best player took a total of six shots. And New Jersey got blown out by Detroit because its best player took a team-high 13 shots. The team with the most points may have won but, in this particular matchup, it will most likely be the player with the fewer points who determines the outcome. Believe it or not, Wallace put up a career-high 9.5 points per game this year and, contrary to popular belief, it nearly destroyed him. Normally a 50 percent shooter prior to this season, he fell all the way to 42.1 percent from the field after going from 4.5 shots per game in his career to 9.2 this season. Ben Wallace Power Forward Detroit Pistons Profile 2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT% 81 9.5 12.4 1.7 .421 .490 He blocked fewer shots per game than he did last year and averaged three fewer rebounds. It was first time in two full seasons that he did not lead the league in both categories. The first time in two seasons that he did not win the Defensive Player of the Year award. And here's the most damning of all numbers. When the Pistons won this year, Wallace averaged nine points per game on 40.5 percent shooting. When they lost, he averaged 10.7 points per game on 45 percent shooting. The more offensively inclined he was, the more the Pistons lost. The same goes for Kidd. In Net wins this year, Kidd took 14.4 shots per game, 4.1 of which were 3-point attempts. But in losses, Kidd took 15.2 shots per game, 4.7 of which were 3-point attempts. And that's because in those same wins, Kidd was averaging 10.2 assists per game. And in those same losses, he was averaging only 7.7 assists. When he wasn't shooting the ball at 38 percent this year, it meant that the other Nets were at shooting it at 45.1 percent. In the aforementioned playoff loss to the Pistons, Kidd handed out only six assists but took 13 shots. As a result, the Nets shot a miserable 27.1 percent from the field and scored only 56 points. Compare that to the numbers he put up during their first-round series with the Knicks in which he averaged nine assists per game while taking 10.2 shots per contest. Or compare it with the Nets' Jan. 14 game against the Wizards in which New Jersey scored 115 points (more than twice the amount it did on Monday night) and Kidd handed out 13 assists compared to taking 16 shots himself. On Feb. 6, the Nets scored 120 points behind another 13 assists from Kidd and only 15 shots. On Jan. 25, the Nets scored 110 points versus the Celtics and Kidd took only 12 shots while totaling 11 assists. Those were the three highest-scoring games of the season for New Jersey. But the same can be said about the Nets' three biggest wins of the year. On Oct. 31, the Nets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves because Kidd had 14 assists to 18 shots. On Dec. 27, the Nets defeated the Indiana Pacers because Kidd had 14 assists to 13 shots. And on March 16, the Nets defeated the Kings because Kidd handed out 13 assists while taking only six shots. Jason Kidd Point Guard New Jersey Nets Profile 2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT% 67 15.5 6.4 9.2 .384 .827 Jason Kidd didn't make the All-NBA first team because he averaged 15.5 points per game this season. He made it because Kenyon Martin matched a career-high 16.7 points per game this season behind a career-high 48.8 percent shooting and because Richard Jefferson scored a career-high 18.5 points per game. And Wallace didn't make the All-NBA second team because he averaged 9.5 points per game. He made it because while his team actually scored 1.3 fewer points per game than last year, it held its opponents to 3.4 fewer points. While the other 13 members of the All-NBA squads averaged a combined 22 points per game, these two were at a combined 25 per game. The more important statistics for the Pistons are the 16 total shots Wallace took in the two victories that the Pistons had over the Nets during the regular season and the 23 shots he took in their two losses. As for Kidd, when the Nets defeated the Pistons by three points on Dec. 26, he was his team's second-leading scorer. When they defeated the Pistons by 11 points on Feb. 10, he was the team's third-leading scorer. And when they lost to the Pistons by 14 on Nov. 9, he was the leading scorer. The series resumes tonight in Detroit and may the worst shooter win.
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