Pistons 90, Nets 69

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) _ Jason Kidd's rough night at both ends of the court led to the end of New Jersey's season _ and reign atop the Eastern Conference. <br/><br/>With Kidd failing to score

Monday, May 17th 2004, 6:02 am

By: News On 6

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) _ Jason Kidd's rough night at both ends of the court led to the end of New Jersey's season _ and reign atop the Eastern Conference.

With Kidd failing to score for the first time in his playoff career, the Detroit Pistons beat the Nets 90-69 on Thursday night in Game 7 of the conference semifinals.

``If you would've asked me, 'Could we hold Jason Kidd scoreless in a Game 7?' I wouldn't have thought in my wildest dreams that would happen,'' said Detroit's Ben Wallace, who scored 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting and had eight rebounds and two blocks.

Kidd missed all eight of his shots and had seven assists, five rebounds and three steals in a team-high 43 minutes.

Detroit's Chauncey Billups scored 22 points, and Richard Hamilton had 21 in part because Kidd could not guard either player.

Once while chasing Hamilton, Kidd ran into Rasheed Wallace's screen, then Hamilton made a jumper. Later, Kidd couldn't _ or didn't _ get out of the lane to defend Billups on a 3-pointer.

Kidd was playing on a bad knee and perhaps a sore back, but he refused to blame injuries for his lackluster play.

``We don't make excuses,'' he said. ``If you can suit up and play, you have to give something.''

The Pistons will face former coach Rick Carlisle's Indiana Pacers in the conference finals, beginning Saturday night in Indianapolis. The Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota will open the Western Conference finals Friday night in Minneapolis.

The Pistons gave up on Carlisle last summer after he won 100 regular season games, two division titles and three playoff series in two seasons. Detroit hired Larry Brown to replace Carlisle, who later was hired by Indiana.

``This series is about moving on to the NBA Finals, everything else is secondary,'' said Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations.

Hamilton, meanwhile, thought the same thing many did when Detroit advanced to set up a matchup with Carlisle's Pacers.

``It's amazing that we'll be facing him, isn't it?'' Hamilton asked. ``The buildup is going to be unbelievable. We know we'll have to be aggressive because we know that coach likes to grind.''

Detroit's No. 1 grind-it-out player was a smooth shooter in the series finale against the Nets.

Late in the third quarter, Ben Wallace backpedaled while keeping his right wrist cocked after swishing a 19-foot jumper that put the Pistons ahead by 25.

``I'm feeling it,'' he later said to former Piston Rick Mahorn, who was seated on press row working as a radio analyst.

Detroit took the lead for good in the middle of the first quarter and turned the game into a blowout early in the third by holding the Nets to just two points in the first six-plus minutes to go ahead by 24.

The Pistons advanced to the conference finals for the second straight year by knocking off the team that swept them last season.

``We need to take it one step further,'' Wallace said.

The Pistons hired Brown to do just that, and the Hall of Fame coach improved to 5-3 in Game 7s _ including an 4-0 mark in such games at home.

With the series victory, Detroit became just the 20th of 116 teams to advance after falling behind 3-2.

While Kidd had a brutal night, New Jersey's two other stars _ Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin _ had solid games with 17 points each.

``Anyone who puts this on Jason Kidd is a fool,'' said Martin, a restricted free agent. ``This team wouldn't have accomplished anything in the last few years without him.''

Since Kidd was traded to New Jersey three years ago, the Nets advanced to the NBA Finals twice _ without experiencing a Game 7. In fact, New Jersey played in its first Game 7 as an NBA franchise on Thursday night.

With their raucous crowd on its feet for much of the game, the Pistons became the 73rd team out of 88 to win a Game 7 at home.

``The Palace was as electric as I've ever seen it,'' said Dumars, who helped the Pistons win NBA titles in 1989 and 1990.

Rasheed Wallace, who made Detroit a championship contender when he was acquired in February, had 12 points and seven rebounds.

New Jersey's Kerry Kittles scored 18, and Rodney Rogers added 13. Rogers was the only Nets player who had played in a Game 7 before.

The Pistons had 10 such players, including four who were not a part of Detroit's win in Game 7 of the first round against Orlando last year.

``Our guys gave it everything they had, but Detroit was just the better team,'' said Nets interim coach Lawrence Frank, who replaced Byron Scott in midseason.