Nets?Big Three Lead Way to Win Over Wizards

New Jersey 109, Washington 106

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Dec. 28 (AP) -- The Nets "Big Three'' helped New Jersey pull out a rare home win.

Richard Jefferson scored 26 points, Vince Carter added 24 and Jason Kidd had 20 points and 12 assists, leading the New Jersey Nets to a 109-106 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

Kidd fell two rebounds short of his 95th career triple-double as New Jersey earned only its fourth win in the last 14 home games. The Nets are 7-11 overall at the Izod Center.

"Vince really carried us early and Jason was pretty consistent throughout the game by hitting some shots early and pushing the ball the way he normally does,'' Jefferson said. "I was able to get going a little bit in the second half and that allowed us to get a win.''

Rookie Sean Williams had 14 points, including a pair of clutch dunks in the fourth quarter, and 10 rebounds for his first double-double. Bostjan Nachbar had 12 points.

Caron Butler led all scorers with 28 for the Wizards. Antawn Jamison had 27 points and 13 rebounds. Nick Young had 15 points, Brendan Haywood 13 points and Roger Mason Jr. 12.

The Nets took charge down the stretch with six straight points, starting with a dunk by Williams. After Mason missed a 3-pointer at the other end, Williams slammed home another, with Carter assisting on both.

"They were making sure they had two guys on me,'' Carter said. "I told Sean to dive for the basket and look, instead of diving just to take somebody with you. If he wasn't getting the ball, he was sucking guys in, getting other guys shots.''

Butler then turned the ball over on a bad pass and Kidd made a pair of free throws to put the Nets up 107-100.

"We just didn't play smart down the stretch,'' Jamison said. "We didn't get stops when we needed to and we did not get the quality shots we needed. This was a winnable game. We just didn't find a way to get it done and they did all the correct things to win the game.''

Kidd and Carter each had 10 points to pace the Nets to a 30-27 lead after one period.

Kidd was 4-for-6 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers in a strong bounce-back quarter. Kidd went 0-for-8 Wednesday in the Nets' 101-83 home loss to the Detroit Pistons.

Carter maintained focus despite an elbow to the face early in the quarter from Butler that had the Nets guard repeatedly blinking his left eye.

Butler led the Wizards with 12.

Washington closed out the half on a 15-8 run to take a 59-53 lead into the locker room. Butler got the run going with a 21-foot basket and Jamison, who had 10 points in the quarter, followed with a layup and a jumper to trigger the spurt.

New Jersey battled back to take an 87-86 lead after three quarters as Jefferson got untracked. After scoring only five points in the first half, Jefferson had 21 in the quarter, shooting 6-for-9 from the field.

source : NBA.com