Nets push Knicks to brink

The Knicks managed to keep it competitive. The Nets were still the better team.

Kenyon Martin ended a late offensive drought with a key 3-point play in the final 30 seconds, and the New Jersey Nets outlasted a feisty effort from the Knicks to defeat New York, 81-78, last night for a 3-0 lead in their first-round series.

After two days in which the injured Tim Thomas and Martin took trash talk to new levels, the teams kept things clean and had the fans on their feet for the final several minutes of the first playoff game in New York in three years.

"I kept my mouth shut and let my play speak for itself," Martin said. "I said everything I wanted to say this morning."

Martin led New Jersey with 19 points and 15 rebounds, Jason Kidd had 19 points, and Richard Jefferson 17. Stephon Marbury scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter but shot just 7 for 23 for New York.

Spurs 95, Grizzlies 93 -- Tim Duncan scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, and defending champion San Antonio spoiled the first playoff game in Memphis to take a 3-0 lead in their first-round series.

The Spurs won their 14th straight game by holding off a Memphis team that fed off a sellout crowd of 19,351 that greeted them with a standing ovation and towels waving.

But Hedo Turkoglu hit his first seven shots and finished with 18 points for the Spurs, while Tony Parker added 18 points, and Manu Ginobili 12.

Pau Gasol led the Grizzlies, who have lost seven straight, with 18 points.