Gary Payton played like it was his last game in New Jersey with the Bucks.
While Jason Kidd was scoring five points in the final 95 seconds of the Nets' 89-82 Game 5 victory, Milwaukee's All-Star point guard was not nearly as clutch or as accurate. Payton missed six of seven shots in the fourth quarter as the Bucks wasted an opportunity to take control of this first-round series.

Possibly the best thing the Milwaukee Bucks can do at this point is to rewind back to the spring of 2001, when they were taking on the Charlotte Hornets in an Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Bucks had lost Game 5 of that series at the Bradley Center to fall behind, 3-2, and face an elimination game in Charlotte. The Hornets had the balloons up in the rafters ready for the post-game celebration, but the Bucks threw a damper on those plans by winning Game 6 and returning the series to Milwaukee.

The committee to contain Kenyon Martin met with its first success Tuesday night, but the Milwaukee Bucks are still one game from summer because they got mugged under the basket. Toughness is a full-time job.

Just when the Bucks were beginning to think they couldn't be pushed around anymore, New Jersey proved otherwise. And never mind that the Nets' biggest bully spent 19 minutes just watching.

Future free agents Gary Payton of the Milwaukee Bucks and Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets are doing all they can to reach the next round of the National Basketball Association playoffs.

But one of them will be sitting at home when the Bucks-Nets series is over later this week. The Eastern Conference first-round series is tied, 2-2, with Game 5 set for tonight in East Rutherford, N.J., and Game 6 scheduled for Thursday night at the Bradley Center.

The all-star point guards said Monday that playoff results wouldn't determine whether they stay with their current teams.

Game 5, Nets vs. Bucks, Jason Kidd vs. Gary Payton. With their first-round series tied 2-2, with each team stealing one down-to-the-wire victory on the road, and with the matchup of future Hall of Fame point guards coming off even better than advertised, there should be a packed house tonight in the Meadowlands.
But over in Jersey yesterday, there were ads for Game 5 announcing, "Great seats are still available."

We can think of an even better way to ensure a sellout: "Come see Jason Kidd's last home game as a Net!"

Preposterous? Not in the least.

The Nets are tied 2-2 in a first-round series that can go either way, and there's a reason why the defending Eastern Conference champs are in a pickle.

The guy who was supposed to make a difference, Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo, is leading the Nets in nothing but syllables.

If Jason Kidd's career goal is to win an NBA title, the ramifications attached to the outcome of Game 5 of the Nets' first-round playoff series against Milwaukee tonight might go well beyond its impact in determining the winner of a 2-all, best-of-seven series. It might affect Kidd's free-agency decision this summer and change the course of franchise history.

Not that Kidd is lending any credence to that theory, mind you.

"Nothing," he said when asked yesterday how much it means to his decision. "It has no weight."

Gary Payton's main concern in signing with a new team this summer will be that team's ability to compete for a championship according to Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News.

"I want to win a championship. That's the No.1 priority for me," Payton said after he led the Bucks to an 88-85 victory over the Nets on Tuesday night to even the first-round series at a game apiece. "I want to get a ring."

It is believed his most likely destination could be San Antonio, who could offer him the money he is looking for and offer him the opportunity to win now. Otherwise, Payton may have to take the mid-level exception on a team that is closer to winning a title.

While going to a winning team is Payton's priority, he is unsure of where he wants to go or what he wants to do. He does know, though, that his family will play a big role in his decision.

"I have no idea what I'll do on July 1," he said. "My family is really going to make the choice. I've got a daughter who's 14 and a son who's 10 and I don't want to take them away from the things that they like. But they've been in the rain (in Seattle) a long time. So I'll give them an opportunity to go where they want to go. But the situation has got to be right for me."

Jason Kidd believes there is a non-basketball related factor that could be a deciding factor in Payton's decision.

"Besides winning a championship," Kidd said, "I think what's important with Gary is that he's a WestCoast guy."

Payton, who will turn 35 this year, and Kidd realize that time is running out to win that elusive championship.

"My window is closing," Kidd said.

"We're both getting up in age, so we need to get somewhere where we can have a chance to get a ring," Payton said. "Me and 'J' are tired of seeing other guys win. So we've both got to go with the best situation. We've got to look at which team is getting stronger."

So does this mean the Bucks will only have Desmond Mason to show for trading Ray Allen? Not necessarily.

"I've got a coach here I'm lovin'," he said, referring to George Karl. "If we can get this team rolling and go far in these playoffs, and if I can see where we can get stronger in the future, shoot, this place would be great for me."

For those not from the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, New York City newspapers cover the Nets as do New Jersey newspapers cover the Knicks.  You will find the same sports stories in almost every major paper, sometimes told differently.

This is the case when telling yesterday?s story of David Stern?s hope of the New Jersey Nets moving into a new arena in Newark.  For those who read the New York Times rendition of Stern?s thoughts here is another angle from a New Jersey journalist.

Jerry Izenberg, sports writer for the Newark Star Ledger, describes a slightly different view of David Stern?s press conference with the media before last night?s game 2.

Izenberg states how Stern basically danced around the question of a new arena in Newark hosting the New Jersey Nets and the standpoints the YankeeNets and other political bodies were taking.

Stern states, "It's a very nice thought, to contemplate a state-of-the-art arena in Newark with the Performing Arts Center and the Bears' Stadium or the office buildings that will contribute to the rebirth of a city.  There was a window opened last summer and for reasons I do not understand, it closed."

From there on out, David Stern dodged the question, trying not to step on anyone?s toes.  The only thing he conveyed for sure was that he had no idea what was going to happen with the Nets and their organization?s home court.  If fact David Stern ended his discussion by saying:

"But, look, it's playoff time and this team has its second straight year in the playoffs. I'd like to focus on the New Jersey Nets name and the state of New Jersey."

Stern knew he was getting in too deep on a topic much bigger than him or anyone not affiliated with the bodies involved.

Steve Popper of the New York Times reports that NBA commissioner David Stern hopes that the Nets can find a way to have a new arena built in Newark.

"My understanding is that there is going to be a new situation for this team one way or the other in the next several years and hopefully, it will be an arena in Newark," Stern said.

"It strikes me that this franchise has a number of decisions that it has to make and they have to make it at the close of the season and during the course of the summer.

"I'm not concerned in the short term because I think we're in a situation where this arena is fine in the intermediate term, but not a long-term solution.''

Stern says that while he would like to see the franchise stay in New Jersey, there would be many cities interested in adding an NBA franchise.

"There is a lot of interest in N.B.A. franchises," he said. "These current times, economic downturn or not, are no exception. I would like to focus on the New Jersey Nets staying with the name and the location in the state of New Jersey."