Media interview right after Nets lose championship series to Spurs

The New Jersey Nets just lost in the NBA finals to the San Antonio Spurs, in six games. It's the second year in a row that Jason Kidd's Nets have lost in the championship round. After the game, Kidd spoke with the media.

Q: Can you talk about the effect of losing in the Finals the second year in a row, what effect that will have on your decision to stay or leave the Nets?

Jason Kidd: Well, it's always tough when you lose, especially at this stage in the season, because this is for one thing and one thing only - that's the Championship trophy.

For us to fall short, it hurts, just like last year it hurt. But we lost to the better team. You got to give San Antonio a lot of credit.

Unfortunately, we just couldn't get over the hump. That has no bearing on what I will decide this summer. I've got to find a way -- I play this game to win. Again, this is my second time coming short of winning that Championship trophy. So I've got to find a team or stay with the Nets, that has a better chance of winning that Championship trophy. That's what I play this game for. Unfortunately, came up short.

Q: Did you guys come unglued when they made the 19-0 run?

Jason Kidd: A little bit. I mean, I didn't know they were on a 19-0 run until after the game when somebody said that.

For us, we lost our composure. There's little things that changes the momentum of the game, and we had control of the game pretty much in hand. We would go eight, six, you know, go back up to twelve.

I thought one of the turning points was when Ginobili got the steal from RJ and laid it up. I think from that point on we kind of unraveled.

Then we had some miscues on the defensive end.

Q: Were you surprised Kerry was out in the beginning of the fourth quarter for quite some time? Also, do you think that there could have been some adjustments made during that slide?

Jason Kidd: Kerry played -- he set the tone defensively. He got his hand on a lot of balls. I thought he played a great game tonight.

As a player, I don't know who's in and who's out. I just know who's on the court at the time. Unfortunately, I don't know how long Kerry was out in the fourth quarter but, you know, that's up to the coaching staff. That lies on them to get guys who are going in the game.

You've got to play with the guys out there. Unfortunately, we just couldn't make shots again. That's been the whole theme in this series.

Last team who's hot normally wins the game, and San Antonio was hot at the end.

Q: Obviously, if you stay with the Nets, you can maybe come back to the Finals year after year. Whether you can compete with the West will still be a big question mark. Does that thought appeal to you, keep coming back to the Finals, or can you see yourself doing this several more times if you keep losing?

Jason Kidd: Well, I would love to come back year after year. But I don't want to be like, you know, I don't want to fall in the category of the bridesmaid.

We felt we could compete with the West, no matter if it was anybody who came out of the West. It was San Antonio. We felt we could give them a run for their money. Unfortunately, you know, we couldn't make shots and they could when it got in the nuts of the game, they stepped up and made them and got stops.

Hopefully, the bridesmaid thing will come to an end if I do return back as a Net.

Q: What problems did Speedy create when he was guarding you, especially in the fourth quarter?

Jason Kidd: Well, I think Speedy must have made every shot he took, and he was big for them off the bench. With the pick-and-roll, he's extremely quick. He was a big X factor for them throughout this series, because it seemed like he made every shot or he found an open guy.

So if Tony wasn't going, they had Speedy coming off to pick up the slack. So Speedy played his game, the pick-and-roll, got to the basket, found an open guy. Or, if he went to help off of Speedy, he knocked down a shot.

Q: Can you talk about, how does this one feel compared to last year? Does this one hurt more? What kind of taste will this leave in your mouth as you go into free agency?

Jason Kidd: They both hurt. Losing is not something that you, as an athlete, like to be on that side of the coin. You hate losing.

It hurts just like last year. Last year was more of an embarrassing situation in a sense of, you know, losing, getting swept in the Finals. This year, we tried, one, to win a game; but, two, to compete to win a championship. We felt we could do that. Unfortunately, we came up short.


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