The last time they met, the Detroit Pistons and New Jersey Nets left yapping at each other and vowing to settle the score in the playoffs.
The Pistons were miffed six weeks ago that the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Nets committed an intentional late foul to get the chance to snap Detroit's streak of sub-70 point defensive efforts at five games.
The Nets were annoyed Detroit left starting guard Richard Hamilton in the game against their backups.
The rivalry between the teams that met in the conference finals a year ago when the Nets swept the Pistons appeared to be heating up at just the right time. The teams open the best-of-seven playoff series Monday in Detroit
All the juice from the rivalry, however, seemingly has vanished. It might have gone into hiding at the request of coaches Lawrence Frank of the Nets and Larry Brown of the Pistons, but no one is admitting so.
The players who accused their opponents of being ''petty'' after the Pistons' 89-71 win at the Continental Airlines Arena in mid-March are saying little.
''Don't be asking me that unless you want to get cussed out,'' Nets forward Kenyon Martin said.
Pistons guard Chauncey Billups, as outspoken as Martin when he feels like it, also dismissed the last game.
''I'm not into the talking thing,'' he said.
The only person who had some fun with the situation was Nets forward Richard Jefferson, who deadpanned a response that had reporters laughing.
''It's huge,'' Jefferson said of the feelings left over from the last game. ''We've been thinking about that every day. We really hold a chip on our shoulder. They hold one, and I think that's going to be a determining factor in the series.
''We hate them so much,'' Jefferson continued. ''Honestly, we despise them. We've sent e-mails. We've egged houses. We've done all kinds of things because of that. We really hold a lot of grudges.''
Jefferson took the absurdity a step further, saying the Nets now want to get even with Minnesota for breaking their franchise record 14-game winning streak earlier this year.
''We're not going to stand for that kind of stuff,'' Jefferson said.
After he finished, Jefferson was asked what he really thought about the last game between the Nets and Pistons.
He less than politely said the Nets don't care about the last meeting.
In watching the teams split four games this season, Brown said there wasn't any unsportsmanlike play.
''The one thing I'm aware of, and I think we're all aware of, is that they beat us four straight last year,'' said Brown, who replaced Rick Carlisle as coach this season. ''The biggest thing for us is to make sure we understand we have to play the right way.''
Nets All Star guard Jason Kidd insisted the regular season means nothing now.
''That was a dress rehearsal,'' Kidd said. ''We're 0-0 now and the first team to four. This is the playoffs. No matter what happened in the past does not have any effect on what this series holds.''
AP News.
The Pistons were miffed six weeks ago that the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Nets committed an intentional late foul to get the chance to snap Detroit's streak of sub-70 point defensive efforts at five games.
The Nets were annoyed Detroit left starting guard Richard Hamilton in the game against their backups.
The rivalry between the teams that met in the conference finals a year ago when the Nets swept the Pistons appeared to be heating up at just the right time. The teams open the best-of-seven playoff series Monday in Detroit
All the juice from the rivalry, however, seemingly has vanished. It might have gone into hiding at the request of coaches Lawrence Frank of the Nets and Larry Brown of the Pistons, but no one is admitting so.
The players who accused their opponents of being ''petty'' after the Pistons' 89-71 win at the Continental Airlines Arena in mid-March are saying little.
''Don't be asking me that unless you want to get cussed out,'' Nets forward Kenyon Martin said.
Pistons guard Chauncey Billups, as outspoken as Martin when he feels like it, also dismissed the last game.
''I'm not into the talking thing,'' he said.
The only person who had some fun with the situation was Nets forward Richard Jefferson, who deadpanned a response that had reporters laughing.
''It's huge,'' Jefferson said of the feelings left over from the last game. ''We've been thinking about that every day. We really hold a chip on our shoulder. They hold one, and I think that's going to be a determining factor in the series.
''We hate them so much,'' Jefferson continued. ''Honestly, we despise them. We've sent e-mails. We've egged houses. We've done all kinds of things because of that. We really hold a lot of grudges.''
Jefferson took the absurdity a step further, saying the Nets now want to get even with Minnesota for breaking their franchise record 14-game winning streak earlier this year.
''We're not going to stand for that kind of stuff,'' Jefferson said.
After he finished, Jefferson was asked what he really thought about the last game between the Nets and Pistons.
He less than politely said the Nets don't care about the last meeting.
In watching the teams split four games this season, Brown said there wasn't any unsportsmanlike play.
''The one thing I'm aware of, and I think we're all aware of, is that they beat us four straight last year,'' said Brown, who replaced Rick Carlisle as coach this season. ''The biggest thing for us is to make sure we understand we have to play the right way.''
Nets All Star guard Jason Kidd insisted the regular season means nothing now.
''That was a dress rehearsal,'' Kidd said. ''We're 0-0 now and the first team to four. This is the playoffs. No matter what happened in the past does not have any effect on what this series holds.''
AP News.
