Kidd, Nets rally to down Bulls

Vince Carter posted 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Nets, who have won 16 of the last 20 times against the Bulls. That includes two rallies from 18 points down in the past week. Last Friday, New Jersey rallied for a 91-86 win.

Richard Jefferson scored 14 and Mikki Moore contributed 13 points and 12 rebounds for New Jersey, which has won five of its last six overall.

Andres Nocioni had 28 points and Ben Gordon scored 23 for the Bulls, who have lost three straight. Kirk Hinrich added 19 points and 10 assists, but his long shot at the buzzer was blocked by Bostjan Nachbar as time ran out.

Chicago held a 74-67 lead following a Hinrich layup with 7:47 remaining, but the Bulls then went cold from the field, and the Nets capitalized with 14 consecutive points.

Kidd’s three-pointer gave New Jersey the lead and his layup capped the spurt for an 81-74 margin with 2:20 remaining. The Bulls missed eight straight shots during New Jersey’s push.

Kidd hit one free throw to extend the Nets to an 84-81 lead with 15.7 seconds left before Hinrich hit two from the line with 11.4 ticks remaining.

Kidd then banged in a pair from the charity stripe with 10.6 seconds to go and then momentarily stripped Hinrich before the Bulls guard failed to get off a last-second shot, as he was snuffed by Nachbar.

The Bulls led 18-8 early following consecutive three-pointers from Luol Deng and Nocioni, and Chicago held a comfortable 28-15 cushion after 12 minutes. That advantage grew to 49-35 at halftime and 55-37 with 10:20 left in the third quarter following a Nocioni jumper.

However, the Nets responded with a 22-6 spurt, getting within 61-59 on a Carter free throw with 2:58 left in the third. It was 65-61 in favor of the Bulls going into the fourth.

Game Notes

The Nets outrebounded the Bulls, 50-41...Nachbar had 11 points.