<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">With the game for the taking, Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets gave it away. The Nets committed turnovers on five of their last six possessions, squandering a late lead and continuing to struggle at home with a 96-93 loss to the shorthanded Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. "Tonight, especially the last four minutes, it was pretty obvious that turnovers were the reason that we didn't get this win," Nets coach Byron Scott said. "We had some big ones at very untimely times to have turnovers, three or four that I can remember in the last couple of minutes of the game, and that's not going to get it done." Trailing most of the game, the Nets took a 90-89 lead on two free throws by Jason Collins with 2:21 to play. Kidd added a free throw 25 seconds later. Already without newly acquired swingman Bonzi Wells and point guard Jason Williams (back spasms), the Grizzlies lost center Lorenzen Wright and forward Shane Battier to fouls. But some sloppiness by the Nets kept them in it. James Posey, who scored 19 points, made a baseline jumper to tie it, and Kidd had the ball poked away from him. That turned into a thunderous follow dunk by Stromile Swift, who hung on the rim and slapped the backboard as he gave Memphis the lead for good at the 1:21 mark. "It looked like my momentum kind of carried me forward," said Swift, who came on after Wright fouled out. "The refs usually don't call those types of technical fouls and fortunately, they didn't. We were fortunate to get some energy coming off the bench the last two minutes." Kidd and Kerry Kittles threw away passes around a missed three-pointer by Mike Miller, before Posey's transition dunk with 39 seconds to go made it 95-91. "We had two key guys foul out and the two guys who came in made two great defensive plays," Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown said. "We had a little bit to do with them turning the ball over." The Nets got a dunk from Kenyon Martin and a stop at the other end, gaining possession with 6.2 seconds left. But a driving Kidd initiated contact with Swift and received no call, and his shot sailed out of bounds. "He tried to get to the basket and if not, tried to get who was open," Scott said. "I'm not going to jump on officials about calls, but that's Gary's (referee Gary Zielinski) call. Jason should have been shooting two free throws, in my opinion." New Jersey has lost four straight games overall and fell to 2-6 at Continental Airlines Arena, where it went 33-8 last season. "It cost us the game," Kidd said. "I had a couple in there and as a team, we've got to take care of the ball going down the stretch. We as a whole have to get a shot in that opportunity, but we just didn't get a shot. We turned the ball over, which is uncharacteristic for a veteran group like ourselves." Pau Gasol also scored 19 points for the Grizzlies, who improved to 4-0 on the road against the Eastern Conference. They won at New Jersey for just the second time in franchise history. "We have not had success on the road the last two years I have been here," said Battier, who scored 12 points. "To come here and beat a playoff-caliber team and come (up) with some wins, it feels good." Earl Watson started for Williams and scored 12 points in 41 minutes. He did a credible job on Kidd, who had 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists but also committed five turnovers. Richard Jefferson had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets, who fell to 3-6 against the West. </div> http://www.nba.com/games/20031203/MEMNJN/recap.html
