Still The Kid
Jason Kidd scored 16 points and dished out 11 assists.
(Wednesday, January 9th)
Final Score: New Jersey 99, Seattle 88
East Rutherford, NJÂ - Richard Jefferson scored a game-high 28 points, dished out six assists and pulled down five boards, as the New Jersey Nets defeated the Seattle SuperSonics, 99-88, at the Izod Center.
Jason Kidd finished with 16 points and 11 assists for the Nets, who have won six of their last seven. Kidd fell five rebounds shy of his fourth consecutive triple-double. Vince Carter tallied 18 points and eight rebounds, while Malik Allen contributed 15 points off the bench.
“I think we were all a little bit disappointed by our performance last night,” said Jefferson, referring to the Nets’ 115-99 loss to Charlotte. “We just had to keep with it and to everyone’s credit, we answered the call.”
Johan Petro had a season-high 22 points and nine rebounds for Seattle, which has dropped five straight and nine of its last 11 overall. Nick Collison poured in 18 points along with a team-high 13 rebounds, and Kevin Durant, who suffered a sprained left ankle in Tuesday’s 95-79 setback against Cleveland, finished with 15 points in just under 32 minutes.
“Since we left Phoenix, we’ve hardly played,” said Seattle head coach P.J. Carlesimo. “We’ve been playing like we’re tired and lost our passion. We have to get back to the way we were playing prior to the Phoenix game.”
The Nets finished the first quarter on a 9-0 run to go ahead 30-21 and carried a 59-46 advantage at halftime.
In the third, Durant hit a jumper to cut the Sonics’ deficit to single digits, 62-53, but Carter buried a jumper followed by a trey from Jefferson to make it 67-53.
New Jersey’s advantage grew to 80-63, after a basket from Jefferson, and the Nets went into the fourth quarter in front by 15.
The Nets opened the fourth on a 9-4 run to push their lead to 89-69. Allen supplied six points during the spurt. Later, Bostjan Nachbar sank a jumper to make it 94-77 and New Jersey cruised to the finish.
Game Notes
New Jersey registered a 98-93 win at Seattle on November 23rd…Seattle had won five of the last seven meetings coming into play…The Nets shot 47.5 percent from the floor compared to the Sonics, who made 40.5 percent of their baskets…Seattle won the battle on the glass, 45-42…New Jersey improved to 9-11 at home, while Seattle has lost six in a row on the road to fall to 4-15…On Tuesday, Kidd became the first person since Grant Hill in 1997 to record three consecutive triple-doubles…New Jersey’s Darrell Armstrong left the game to receive three stitches in his lower lip.
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