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Nenad Krstic, key factor to Net's Success

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  • Nenad Krstic, key factor to Net's Success

    On a team with Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson, and Vince Carter, Nenad Krstic, the second-year up-and-coming center has found himself as the key to how far the Net's go into the postseason. I've read several different articles over the past few weels about how important Krstic's production is to the Nets, heres the latest one, courtesy of the Staten Island Advance:

    Stuart

    Krstic is the Nets' extra element

    Center ready for spotlight when N.J. opens first-round series against Indiana

    EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- He shrugged his shoulders and arched his eyebrows, as if an unreasonable burden had been arbitrarily imposed upon him.

    "Me?" Nenad Krstic asked. "An X-factor?"

    He has heard this American idiom before -- understands its implications, its demands, and the pressure that goes along with it. The fifth-youngest starter in the 2005 NBA Playoffs just never heard it applied to him, which may cause a jolt when you're 22 and utterly devoid of ego.

    "He's turned into a hell of a player," said Knicks assistant coach Herb Williams, who knows something about big men. "I think he could be the difference in the playoffs for them."

    In other words, the Serbian center is in the spotlight when the Nets open their first-round series Sunday against Indiana.

    "I think I'm a different person now," Krstic said. "I really have more confidence. I think I can handle that kind of pressure."

    That approach has served him well. The coming-of-age season just completed has made the NBA take notice, as Krstic has been folded into a star-laden Nets lineup seamlessly, with incremental improvements in every facet of his game.

    Those who watched him during his formative years say it was unexpected, but not shocking.

    "It's just the way I am," he said. "In Serbia, I always practiced. For the last five summers, I got four or five days off and that's it. I've played for junior national teams, the senior national teams, and there was always something to do."

    "He doesn't get the credit he deserves," reigning Rookie of the Year Emeka Okafor of Charlotte said. "He plays hard and does all the little stuff right. Then he goes on a roll."

    "Through this (Nets season), we talk about the Big Three," Boston coach Doc Rivers said, "but I think it's been more has really turned it on."

    Or, as Williams put it, "I think he can be an All-Star. If he isn't, something happened to his progress. There are some kids who just know what it takes, and he obviously does."

    An X-factor, you might call such players.
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