NBA FINALS Mutumbo could be key for Nets

The 7-footer is being paid $14 million to sit the bench.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- If the New Jersey Nets hope to make the rest of the NBA Finals more competitive than Game 1, they could always go back to Plan A.
After the Nets were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers in last season's finals, team president Rod Thorn swung a blockbuster trade to acquire Dikembe Mutombo from Philadelphia. Thorn believed New Jersey needed a top-flight defensive center to deal with the West's best big men.
But while 7-footers Tim Duncan and David Robinson dominated the second half of the San Antonio Spurs' 101-89 victory in Game 1 on Wednesday night, Mutombo sat and stewed.
Looking for playing time
The aging veteran hasn't played much all season, and coach Byron Scott will admit only that he's thinking about using Mutombo a bit more in Game 2 tonight.
"I was brought in to help the organization win a championship," Mutombo said. "We're playing for a championship, but I'm sitting on the bench. I had a good indication that I was going to play more minutes, but it didn't happen."
New Jersey made it back to the finals without the help of Mutombo. He missed nearly four months with a wrist injury, then returned to find himself buried on Scott's bench. He's making more than $14 million this season to cheer on his teammates.
But Mutombo played six minutes in the first half of Game 1, and he gave New Jersey some life in an otherwise middling performance. He got two rebounds, committed two fouls, blocked a dunk attempt by Duncan and dove on the floor for a loose ball, drawing roars of encouragement from teammates who would love to see Mutombo get more action.
"To see my teammates were pumped up, it made me feel part of the group again," Mutombo said. "I haven't felt like that for a long time."
Perhaps the fans and teammates who would like to see Mutombo in the game are being a bit fanciful. After all, Mutombo is slower and more rusty than in the past -- but only a victory in Game 2 would quiet the speculation.
Not all about Dikembe
"I think he could help, and I think he's dying to get out there," Richard Jefferson said. "But [Mutombo] won't help us hit perimeter jumpers, which is what we couldn't even do in Game 1."
Perhaps most disturbingly for the Nets, Jason Kidd's second straight trip to the finals got off to a dismal start. He went 4-for-17 from the field, missing eight straight shots in the first half.