Nets pull away from Celtics

in fourth quarter
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jason Kidd is quiet, and this is a good thing from the perspective of his coaches and teammates.
New Jersey’s point guard has been anything but quiet on the floor, where the All-Star has averaged a triple-double in these Eastern Conference finals.
But off the court, the Nets’ heart and soul has chosen to say little to his teammates in the form of leadership and is instead doing a slow burn that has translated to a steady sizzle once the game starts.
“When Jason’s real quiet, there’s something going on inside him that you just want to leave alone and let explode when the game starts,” Nets coach Byron Scott said. “He’s coming at games with a vengeance.”
Wednesday night proved no exception.
Riding the intensity of Kidd, the big game of Kenyon Martin and the sweet shooting of Kerry Kittles, the Nets defeated Boston 103-92 before a sellout crowd of 19,850 at Continental Airlines Arena. With the win, New Jersey took a 3-2 lead in the series and moved one victory away from the franchise’s first appearance in the NBA Finals.
Game 6 is Friday night in Boston.
Kidd finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Kittles had 21 points while Martin and Keith Van Horn each had 19.
Boston must win two games with the daunting knowledge that New Jersey has controlled this series. The Nets have led for all but 84 seconds of the last three games combined, including all but 25 Wednesday night.
Mindful of the slow starts that forced his team to claw back from large deficits the last two games — once successfully, once not — Celtics coach Jim O’Brien implored his team to begin better.
It didn’t happen.
Pierce, who entered Game 5 averaging 26 points in the series, led the Celtics with 24 points Wednesday.

— By K.C. Johnson

Knight Ridder

Asian rivals present

united front for World Cup
Thirty years after Ping-Pong diplomacy thawed hostilities between the United States and China, soccer diplomacy might prove to be a turning point in the relationship between three unfriendly neighbors.
Korea and Japan, which have co-existed in disharmony for centuries, are co-hosts of the World Cup, and determined to present a smiling, united front as the globe peers in on Asia for the four weeks of the tournament.
Isolated and poverty-stricken North Korea, still technically at war with South Korea and on belligerent terms with Japan, is hoping the World Cup will lead to aid and some token of acceptance from nations that regard it as a Cold War throwback.
“There is considerable friction in the entire area,” said June Teufel Dreyer, chair of the University of Miami political science department. “Koreans like to describe their country as the nut caught between nut-crackers Japan and China. Japan has a history of conquering Korea. The World Cup is meant as a confidence-building measure. If they can have a successful soccer tournament together, they might like each other better.”
The rivalries are acute off and on the field. South Korea, a five-time World Cup dud, is hoping to advance to the second round on home soil. Japan, proud of how its domestic league has surpassed Korea’s in terms of talent, is also looking to make a worldwide impression.
“Japan is looking nervously over its shoulder because its economy has been in the doldrums since 1990,” Teufel Dreyer said. “Koreans are very astute and hard-working. Japan sees a scrappy little rival.”
Japan has periodically invaded Korea since the 13th century. During Japan’s annexation of Korea from 1909 to 1945, Korean children were educated in the Japanese language, Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names and many Koreans were forcibly taken to Japan to do menial work or serve in the Japanese army.
After Japan was defeated in World War II, Korea was split in two by the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, and the Korean War raged for three years. The demilitarized zone still divides the peninsula.

— Linda Robertson

Knight Ridder Newspapers