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Friday, March 23, 2001
Martin 'disappointed' with latest setback



EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Kenyon Martin is out with a broken right leg for the second time in a year, but the New Jersey Nets star does not think the fracture is as serious as the one he had in college.

"I'm disappointed with 10 or 11 games to go in the season for it to happen," Martin said Friday from the Nets' practice facility with a boot on his right leg. "I thought I was playing pretty good."

"For it to happen now is unfortunate, but I didn't think here we go again," he added.

Martin, the NBA's top draft pick, sustained a nondisplaced fracture of his right fibula midway through the third quarter of the Nets' 113-98 loss to Boston on Thursday night. Celtics guard Milt Palacio kneed Martin in his calf after the two got tangled.

Martin tried to stay on the court, but the power forward eventually limped to the locker room and told trainer Tim Walsh his leg was broken.

Martin said the break, diagnosed as a hairline fracture, is lower on his fibula than the one he sustained playing for Cincinnati during the Conference USA tournament last March.

The fibula is the smaller of two bones in the lower leg.

"I'm not fragile by any means," said Martin, who said this injury is totally different from the last one.

Nets spokesman John Mertz said Keith Van Horn also had a hairline fracture of his fibula in training camp. The forward missed 32 games.

Martin said if this injury happened earlier in the season, he would be out four to six weeks.

Martin, who has played better as the season has progressed, was making a strong push for Rookie of the Year honors. He finished the season averaging 12 points and 7.4 rebounds in 68 games, all starts. He also had 113 blocks, 131 assists and 78 steals.

"I think I was the favorite the way I was playing," said Martin, who had 22 points on 10 of 16 shooting in 28 minutes against the Celtics.

Nets coach Byron Scott said Friday that Martin still deserves to be the Rookie of the Year.

"He had gotten pretty close to arriving, and he turned into being a pretty darn good player," Scott said. "We think he has the possibility of being a great player in this league. I think he is well on his way."

Nets president Rod Thorn said it easy to think there is something wrong if a player fractures the same bone twice in a year.

However, team doctors have assured him the leg will have no greater chance of breaking again, provided it heals properly.

"To have a freak thing like this happen with 11 games to go is terrible," Thorn said after the Nets' shootaround for Friday night's game with the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. "It's terrible for us, but it's terrible for him. He's come on strong and he has a chance to be a really good player in the league."

The injury is the latest to strike the Nets this season. Kerry Kittles has missed the entire year after undergoing knee surgery. Forward Jamie Feick has missed 64 games with an Achilles' tendon injury. Forward-guard Kendall Gill has missed 40 with tendinitis in his knee, and center Jim McIlvaine has missed 35 with back and calf injuries.

"Everything happens for a reason, but I don't know what the reason is," All-Star guard Stephon Marbury said. "I know we're not cursed like people say."

Marbury then paused.

"Maybe we are," he said. "It's tough. It's tough with all those people going down."

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