Rivalry has taken turn for worse

You are Roxbury, Southie, and Quincy. You are the North End, Eastie, and Nashua, N.H. You are the reason Byron Scott was so animated after a 94-87 win in November, Game 6 of 82. You are partly responsible for the focus the Nets have shown in the past 12 games against the Celtics. They are 11-1 in those games.

Forget about all the euphemisms and polite answers Scott and Jason Kidd gave last night at the FleetCenter. The games between New Jersey and Boston have not been the same since, ironically, one of the biggest wins in Celtics history. It was May 25, 2002, Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. Antoine Walker stood on a press table, Paul Pierce got a pep talk, and the Nets walked off the parquet trying to make sense of the 21-point fourth-quarter lead they blew.

Two days later, a group of fans started reminding Kidd about a domestic-abuse incident with his wife. They chanted "wife beater" and wore a style of T-shirt that is crudely referred to as a wife beater. Kidd never forgot it and neither did the Nets. They never will. Not as long as Kidd is playing for them and Scott is coaching them.

"This is a rivalry," Nets center Aaron Williams said. "Their fans say some pretty bad things to us and I'm sure our fans say some bad things to them. The thing that bothers me most is the people who feel like they can say anything to you. They say things that they would never say to you on the street. Never."

Williams was asked the worst thing he's ever heard in Boston.

"No comment," he said. "You can't print it."

We all love rivalries in sports, but I don't like this one. The key phrase is rivalries in sports and this one didn't develop its edge because of something that happened on the floor. Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia teams couldn't stand the Celtics because they always -- OK, there was 1967 -- finished behind them. There was a dislike between Dr. J's 76ers and Larry Bird's Celtics long before the two stars got into a fight. All Bill Laimbeer had to do was step on the floor and protest a call and he was instantly a villain -- in Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

But there is a nastiness to Boston-New Jersey that has very little to do with the players and executives involved. This is a group of athletes that has imagined a city to be a frothing mob. A rivalry is supposed to bring out the best in the participants. This one brings out the worst.

Boston started it with the incessant chants toward Kidd. Scott delivered a counterpunch to the belly of Boston. He mentioned the city's racial history, and a new level of tension and resentment was added to the games.

I wish it would stop. I wish Danny Ainge's pregame comment about Kidd -- he said the point guard is one of his favorite players and favorite people -- wasn't such a politicized remark.

Ainge coached Kidd in Phoenix and saw him transform the Suns into a 50-game winner. He also watched him struggle with his marriage and then take steps to repair it. When Ainge talks about his former player now, his focus is on how he can get his Celtics past the best team in the conference.

Kidd had 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists last night. He was booed each time he touched the ball. When he was finished playing and finished chasing Celtics rookie Marcus Banks, Kidd finally talked about his night. He tried to convince a crowd of reporters that he enjoys playing in front of a hostile crowd. He said the Boston crowd has a right to express itself and "our job is to entertain them." He said the Boston crowd is filled with passionate and smart fans. He said Banks is going to be a very good player real soon.

What he didn't say is that there is a great deal of unspoken energy that goes into games against the Celtics. This is the place where his wife cried when she heard some of the things said about her husband. He hasn't let that go. This is the team he has helped knock out of two consecutive playoff series. It is his work -- and the work of Kenyon Martin -- that convinced Ainge that he needed to shake up his team.

As Ainge sat courtside last spring, he saw a New Jersey team that was much quicker and athletic than Boston. The new director of basketball operations traded Walker five months later. He was willing to trade 20 points and five assists a night for increased athleticism and defensive presence. Last night was his chance to see his theory in action against the Nets, even though New Jersey was missing three of its top eight players (Martin, Lucious Harris, Rodney Rogers).

The Celtics played well at times, but Pierce took on too much responsibility and Kidd was great when he needed to be.

Afterward, Scott celebrated as if his old Arizona State team had defeated Arizona in a Desert Classic. And he wasn't jubilant because he became the all-time winningest coach (130 victories) in New Jersey's NBA history.

Scott and his mentor, Pat Riley, were fun to root against. Kareem and Magic and Big Game James were fun to root against. Boston-New Jersey could be fun, too -- if sports were part of it.

Michael Holley is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is holley@globe.com.