SAN ANTONIO ? Five pieces of yellow poster board were strewn on the floor behind the New Jersey bench, a picture of a broom and one letter from the word “SWEEP” drawn on each of them.

Moments after the final buzzer, those five placards were covered with footprints.

Thought this was going to be a noncompetitive NBA Finals? Think again.

Led by the late free-throw shooting of Jason Kidd and the insertion of Dikembe Mutombo into the rotation, the New Jersey Nets evened the championship series at one game apiece Friday night by defeating the San Antonio Spurs, 87-85.

“I think we showed a real lack of respect for the situation tonight for three quarters, and then finally when it got critical, it looked like the basketball team I watched play all year long,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

By then, however, too much damage had been done.

Although the Spurs made a comeback to pull within a point, the difference in the end was free-throw shooting — especially by Kidd.

Six times he went to the line in the final 20 seconds, and five of those times he calmly sank the shot. And when Stephen Jackson missed a three-pointer with 3 seconds left and no one gained control of the loose ball before the final buzzer, the complexion of this series had been irrevocably altered.

“We jumped on them from the beginning, and we didn’t give them the chance to breathe,” said Mutombo, whose defense on Tim Duncan — along with that of second-year center Jason Collins — helped hold the MVP to 19 points and 12 rebounds.

continued from page 1c

Nets guard jason kidd grimaces after he hit the deck. The Nets beat the Spurs, 87-85, Friday in San Antonio, tying the NBA Finals at 1-1.

The series now heads to New Jersey for Game 3 Sunday, Game 4 Wednesday and Game 5 Friday.

The series is a toss-up now, which is a whole lot different that it seemed a day earlier — when the Nets were questioning the strategies used by coach Byron Scott, and five Spurs fans felt confident enough to come up with the idea of holding up a “SWEEP” sign behind the Nets’ bench.

The victory was the first ever for the Nets in the championship round; they were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers last year.

“The big thing is that we stopped the streak. We knew we couldn’t lose eight in a row in the finals,” Kidd said.

Scott made plenty of adjustments, most notably giving 20 minutes of playing time to Mutombo — the four-time defensive player of the year who had barely played in the postseason.

Mutombo made his first two shots, blocked three others and gave the Nets an inside presence that prevented the Spurs from scoring with ease from the inside, as they had in Game 1.

Duncan hurt his own team by missing seven of 10 free throws, and he also committed four of the Spurs’ 22 turnovers.

Kidd led the Nets with 30 points — including 13 in the fourth quarter — and seven rebounds. Kenyon Martin had 14 points and two blocks, and Lucious Harris came off the bench to score 10. They were the only Nets to score in double figures.

Tony Parker scored 21 points for San Antonio, with Jackson adding 16. The Spurs shot just 14-for-25 (56 percent) from the foul line.

“The two weaknesses we’ve had all year — turnovers and free throws,” Popovich said. “If we have 20 turnovers and we miss 11 free throws, that puts a lot of pressure on our defense — and both those things cropped up tonight. That’s the ballgame.”

On offense, the Nets didn’t run much but were more aggressive taking the ball inside and challenging San Antonio’s shot blockers.

On defense, they let Collins and Mutombo handle the bulk of the assignment on Duncan, and each was able to contain him. San Antonio didn’t reach 50 points until 2:37 remained in the third quarter.

“What did (Popovich) say to us at halftime? He was mad,” Parker said. “He was screaming at us to get more aggressive.”

Duncan had only eight points at halftime and didn’t have a field goal in the fourth quarter until there was 4:46 left. That jump hook was followed by an airball from Martin and a short jumper by Parker to cut San Antonio’s deficit to 78-75 with 4:14 left.

Three nifty touch passes led to a layup by Martin, but Robinson dunked on a fast break and Parker sped upcourt for a running 9-footer that made it a one-point game, 80-79, with 2:06 left.

Kidd’s running jumper from the baseline gave New Jersey an 82-79 lead with 1:16 left, and San Antonio had a turnover and two missed shots on its next two possessions.

Duncan went to the line with the Spurs trailing 82-79 with 24.6 seconds left and tossed up a brick that rattled around the rim and ricocheted away as the crowd moaned. He made the second, and the Spurs then began intentionally fouling Kidd.

He made his first four, missed one with 8.1 seconds left and then made his last one, setting the stage for Jackson’s errant three-pointer.

“How many teams get a chance to play in the finals, and then we don’t come to play?” Jackson said. “That’s uncalled for. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and come to play Sunday.”

Mutombo played the entire second quarter and did an admirable job defending Duncan, but his signature defensive moment came in the final minute of the quarter when he rejected a layup attempt by 40-year-old Kevin Willis, then held his right finger high in the air and wagged his finger from side-to-side.

New Jersey led 41-35 at halftime as San Antonio, which made its first five shots of the game, made just two the rest of the first quarter and just eight over the rest of the half.

Kidd’s difficult hanging hook shot from the lane was followed by a three-pointer from Kerry Kittles off an offensive rebound to make it 55-45 with 4:45 left in the third — the first double-digit lead of the game. A layup by Collins off a pass from Kidd made it 60-45 — New Jersey’s largest lead.

After the Spurs pulled within eight early in the fourth quarter, Kidd let fly from 25 feet away and swished a three-pointer to hush the crowd. Consecutive baskets by Malik Rose got the deficit down to seven and re-energized the building, but two defensive plays by Mutombo — altering a 2-footer by Duncan, then blocking a shot by Robinson — quieted the fans back down.

Mutombo’s block of Robinson’s shot turned into a fast-break layup by Richard Jefferson for a 78-70 lead. A 9-2 run, led by Parker, made it a one-point game with 2:06 left.