EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Kerry Kittles' expression said it all.

	Kittles

It was one of those "tonight's just not my night" looks of utter disgust.

Kittles had that pained look after missing his second must-have 3-pointer in the final minutes of the New Jersey Nets' 93-86 loss to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night at Continental Airlines Arena.

"I had pretty good looks," Kittles said. "They just didn't go down."

The Nets had a chance to erase an 18-point, third-quarter deficit with a late run but fittingly, they bricked it. Kittles did his share of spreading the mortar in the Nets' dismal display of 33-percent shooting from the field. He misfired on nine of his 11 attempts, the two biggest misses coming in New Jersey's last-minute rally.

The Nets reduced their deficit to seven with 2:23 to play on two Kenyon Martin free throws and got the ball back on a referee overrule with a chance to make it a two-possession game. Kittles launched from three and hit nothing but back rim. He committed his third foul after the miss, slapping his hands in frustration.

Kittles found himself in position to sink another clutch 3-pointer with the Nets trailing by just five in the final minute. He missed that one, too. All he could do was stand -- and stare at the rafters -- after not delivering a second time.

"I was just trying to get one to go down," said Kittles, who scored just four points and missed all seven of his shots from three. "Obviously, we were a little bit desperate and needed a couple of 3's to get back in it. I think I may have been pressing a little bit on my shots. I was taking my time. I thought those looks were pretty good. The rhythm was a little bit there, but they didn't go down."

	Disappearing Act
	The Nets were able to take a 1-0 lead in the conference finals thanks in part to 42 combined points and 20 rebounds from Kerry Kittles, Todd MacCulloch and Keith Van Horn. But the Celtics took advantage of that trio's struggles in Game 2, as the three put up just 12 total points and grabbed only 14 rebounds. They combined to shoot just 4-for-27 in Game 2 after making more than half their shots 18-of-35 in Game 1.
		Game 1	Game 2
	Points	42	12
	FG/FGA	18/35	4/27
	Rebounds	20	14
	Assists	7	4
	>>Combined totals in conf. finals

Kittles' night summed up the 180 the Nets' offense experienced after a spectacular performance in Game 1.

New Jersey got into its running game right from the opening tip in Sunday's 104-97 victory, with Kittles doing most of the damage early. He scored eight of the Nets' first 13 points on two layups and two dunks in transition.

On Tuesday night, the Nets' backdoor cuts were slammed shut by the Celtics' revitalized defense.

"They just played a little more fired up than we did," Kittles said. "They got up on us a little bit more. They denied us passes and pressured us a little bit more. … We just didn't do a good job of adjusting today."

Neither did Keith Van Horn. Like Kittles, he found it tough "getting into the flow" against Boston's swarming defense.

After scoring 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting on Sunday, Van Horn shot just 2-of-12 and only 1-of-4 on 3-pointers to finish with a meager five points.

"I feel that we played impatiently on offense," Van Horn said. "We really need to work the ball around a little bit more. That's how we've won all year -- by working the ball around and moving the ball."

On Sunday, the Nets executed their Princeton offense so well the display would've made Pete Carril proud. Head coach Byron Scott called it his club's best offensive game of the season as New Jersey shot 49.4 percent and enjoyed a 48-20 points-in-the-paint advantage.

After Tuesday's game, Scott wasn't so complimentary.

"We just did a bad job of running our offense, to be honest with you," Scott said. "We weren't very patient and we were looking to make the home run passes sometimes. We just weren't sharp tonight."

"We missed a lot of shots and that was the key tonight," he added. "We just couldn't make shots when the game was there for the taking. … It was just one of those nights for us, offensively."

The look on Kittles' face said so.

Joe Lago is the NBA editor for ESPN.com.