NBA Game Summary - Sacramento at New Jersey

02.16.2005

East Rutherford, NJ (Basketball News) - Jason Kidd posted his fifth triple- double of the season with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, as the New Jersey Nets downed the Sacramento Kings, 96-85, at the Meadowlands.

Kidd has three triple-doubles in his last six games for the Nets, who won for the second time in three contests. Vince Carter led the Nets with 21 points, while Nenad Kristic posted a career-high 18 points to go with eight rebounds.

"I thought our guys gave a tremendous effort against one of the better teams in the league," said Nets head coach Lawrence Frank. "We got contributions from every one."

Mike Bibby registered a game-high 25 points for the Kings, who lost for the sixth time in seven games. Cuttino Mobley added 16 points in the setback and Chris Webber chipped in 12 points and 10 boards.

The score was knotted at 70-70 after three quarters of play and was still even at 78-78 after Darius Songaila made a pair of free throws for the Kings with 8:30 left in the fourth. However, the Nets responded with a 16-3 burst to take control of the game. Carter started the spurt with a 17-foot jumper and Kidd followed that with a three-pointer to make it 83-78 with 7:16 left. Kidd also capped the run when his basket pushed New Jersey’s cushion to 94-81 with 2:29 remaining.

The Kings held a 12-6 lead early in the first quarter and they would hold a 25-21 cushion after one quarter of play.

Sacramento opened the second quarter with a 13-4 run to take a 38-25 lead, but New Jersey made sure that the game didn’t get out of hand. The Nets closed the period with a 19-9 explosion of their own to slice the deficit to 47-44 by halftime.

Kristic paced all scorers with 14 points at the break, while Bibby led the Kings with 11 points.

Neither team was able to pull away in the third quarter and the score was deadlocked at 70-70 heading into the final 12 minutes.

Sacramento forward Peja Stojakovic missed the game with flu-like symptoms...Kidd has 64 career triple-doubles, including 26 with the Nets...Clifford Robinson made his debut with the Nets and posted nine points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes. The veteran forward was acquired from Golden State on Monday in exchange for a pair of second round draft picks...The Nets connected on 8-of-16 three-pointers, while Sacramento hit just 2-of-11 from beyond the arc.

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