They have done it.  For the first time in the futile existence of the New Jersey Nets they are finally going to the NBA Finals as participants.

The change in fortunes for the franchise can be tied back to one off season trade, the trade that saw the selfish Stephon Marbury shipped to Phoenix for the troubled Jason Kidd.  Who would have guessed that Kidd?s unselfish style, and of course the relatively injury free season, could have such an effect on a team so quickly?

The Nets delivered the final blow to the Boston Celtics last night at the FleetCenter, winning Game 6 by the score of 96-88 sparking an emotional scene from the Nets players.

"I think you can always go back on history, I wanted to find out on my own," said Kidd, who had his third triple-double of the series. "There have always been questions about our team," he said. "Do we have the heart, do we have the toughness, do we have this, do we have that? I hope we can answer some of those questions."

The majority of the questions came after the Nets squandered a 21 point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 3, many wondering if the Nets can bounce back or were they done.  The Nets certainly showed they had heart, bouncing back with a vengeance to win the next three straight, two of which were on the road.

"Some things in life, you just can't find the words for," Keith Van Horn said. "It's just unbelievable."

"I'm light-headed right now," Kidd said. "So, I guess it's just unbelievable. I try to reflect all the way back to the trade. You never know. We've got a great group of guys, we stayed together win or lose. When I'm on the golf course, I'll realize that we won the Eastern Conference finals."

The Nets are now destined to meet either Sacramento or Los Angeles in the NBA Finals.  Like New Jersey, Sacramento had a chance to close out the Western Conference Championship with a win in L.A. last night but ran into too much Shaq.  The Lakers ran the ball inside as much as they could in Game 6, and Shaquille O?Neal did not disappoint scoring 41 points and grabbing 17 rebounds in 44 minutes.

?We ain't going to go away that easy," O'Neal said.

?It was like, 'Let's go. Let's go, man,' " Kobe Bryant added. "We've been through so much together since we first came here. We've been through playoffs where we got swept. We've been through coaches coming and going. We've had so many ups and downs, that this is nothing. Facing elimination, this is nothing to us."

The deciding game is scheduled to be played Sunday in Sacramento with the winner meeting the New Jersey Nets for the Championship.