After an ailing effort where he refused to point to his sickness as a reason for a bad Game 5, Kenyon Martin vowed not to have a second straight clunker in Game 6. It didn't work.

"I feel like I let my team down," said Martin, who had a terrible game, shooting 3-of-23 and scoring six points in the Nets' 88-77 Game 6 loss to the Spurs that brought the title here. "I've always been there. I feel like I let them down and then we lost on top of it. I took the shots I was open. Shots I make every day. I just couldn't knock them down tonight."

In the middle of the Nets' lockerroom after they had tasted bitter defeat for a second straight season, coach Byron Scott walked over and hugged Martin, whispering to his young forward.

"He just had one of those games where he couldn't throw it in the ocean. It had nothing to do with him not being aggressive," Scott said.