From Bottom to the Top

The Boston Celtics and New Jersey Nets are the unlikeliest of Eastern Conference finalists, teams that did not qualify for the NBA playoffs last season, but are one series victory away from playing for the championship. It will be the first time since 1978 that a team that missed the playoffs the previous season advanced to the finals the next.

Not that anyone is bothering to pay much attention, what with the Lakers and Sacramento Kings squaring off in the marquee matchup out West, but the Celtics and Nets figure to put on an intriguing show in the East.

The Celtics’ Paul Pierce has already issued a challenge that rocketed down Interstate 95 from Boston, over the George Washington Bridge onto the Jersey Turnpike to Exit 16W.

“There are certain teams in the NBA that you match up against well,” Pierce said several days ago. “New Jersey is one of those teams. I don’t think they have anyone that can really defend me.”

Having averaged 37 points in four games this season against the Nets, Pierce might be right. We’ll find out for certain starting today at 2:30 PDT, when the best-of-seven series begins at East Rutherford, N.J.

The Nets seemed to agree with Pierce, a standout at Inglewood High who averaged 26.1 points during the regular season. Or at the very least, they acknowledged their inability to halt him this season. After all, Pierce scored 46 of his career-best 48 points in the second half plus overtime of Boston’s victory Dec. 1 over the Nets.

“There’s nobody on this team that can stop Paul Pierce one on one,” said New Jersey Coach Byron Scott, a former Laker guard who also hails from Inglewood. “As good a defensive player as Kenyon [Martin] is, Paul is going to score. Same thing with Antoine [Walker]. Obviously, we have to limit those guys from having big nights.”

Scott said he won’t double-team Pierce, but will probably have Martin (with help from Kerry Kittles and perhaps Jason Kidd) on the Celtic swingman. In fact, one of the troubling aspects of facing the Celtics is determining how to best defend a team that defies convention.

Boston often eschews an inside game in favor of three-point shooting from Pierce and Walker, who at 6-feet-6 and 6-9, respectively, are big enough to play down low, but are more comfortable on the perimeter. Pierce made 21 of 28 three-point shots in the four regular-season games against the Nets.

Walker averaged 22.1 points during the regular season, but only one other Celtic, Rodney Rogers (11.9), averaged in double figures. Pierce, Walker, Rogers, Tony Delk and Erick Strickland are all three-point threats.

The Nets, bolstered by the acquisition of Kidd last summer from the Phoenix Suns, completed a monstrous turnaround in 2001-02. They were 26-52 last season, but improved to 52-30 and earned home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Celtics finished three games behind the Atlantic Division champion Nets.

Because of Kidd’s wizardry with the ball and the presence of Martin, a 6-9 power forward with an edgy side to his game, and 7-foot center Todd MacCulloch in the middle, the Nets are considered to be a more well-rounded team than the Celtics.

“It should be exciting,” Kidd said last week. “Both teams like to explore and get easy baskets when the situations present themselves.”

Kidd hasn’t been slowed despite a gash over his right eye he sustained during a collision with David Wesley of Charlotte in Game 3 of the Nets’ conference semifinal series.

The Nets might also have another advantage in Scott’s dislike for Boston, dating to his days as a Laker facing the Larry Bird-led Celtics of the 1980s.

Earlier this season, Scott attempted to break up a scuffle between his team and the Celtics only to have Walker scream at him. Later, Scott said Walker “hasn’t done anything in this league,” and couldn’t tell him what to do.

“I still feel the same way I did about them when I played,” Scott said of the Celtics. “It hasn’t changed that much. That green and white doesn’t sit well with me.”