Kevin Garnett not making much of an impact for Nets

Kevin Garnett was frustrated after missing a 5-footer, beating himself up as he ran downcourt to play defense.

Former Celtics teammate Ray Allen swished a three-pointer on the next possession to give the Heat an 85-77 lead in Miami's 92-84 Game 2 victory, making Garnett's brick that much more of a momentum-killer.

His offensive struggles continued Thursday night, as he scored only four points (shooting 2-for-8) after going scoreless in a playoff game for the first time in his career in Game 1.

"I'm not happy with my play right now," said Garnett, who shot 1-for-6 from inside the paint but did have 12 rebounds. "I'm trying to get in a flow and a rhythm. Try to bring something. It's just frustrating. But I'll grind through it."

Asked how he can improve his game, he said: "Continue to work. Continue to find ways to be aggressive offensively. Continue to look for opportunities. Rebound the ball, box out as much as I can. And continue to talk and inspire."A passive Garnett does little to help the Nets.

"Well, I think he's so unselfish, he's always trying to help his teammates out," coach Jason Kidd said before Game 2. "So we all have to sometimes remind him to be aggressive . . . "

Garnett, who has played in 140 career postseason games, was averaging playoff career lows in points (7.4), rebounds (5.3) and minutes (19.5) entering Game 2.

"Listen, coming here . . . I knew my scoring was going to be subjective," he said. "I knew I was giving up things coming here. I understand that. I'm not going to be a distraction or complaining about things that I kind of anticipated. Whatever [Kidd] needs to be on this team, I've tried to be and will continue to try to be.

"I'm not going to come off and be a distraction at this point. I understand my job and go out there and do it to the best of my ability. If I have a chance to be aggressive, I'll take those chances. If not, do what I can, do the things that I know I can."

Defending the King

In the series opener, the Nets had five different players guarding LeBron James at various times. "I figured that they would throw a lot of bodies at me in particular," said James, who had 22 points in Game 2. "In one-on-one matchups, they threw six to seven guys on me at one point in the game. They started to kind of bring the double-team towards the end. That shouldn't deter us from doing what we want to do." Net-cetera

The Heat coaching staff's pregame choice of footage in the locker room last nightThursday night? That would be Game 5 of Miami's 1999 first-round series with the Knicks, which was won on Allan Houston's buzzer-beater.