Carter leads Nets past Bobcats in OT thriller

Josh Boone scored a career-high 21 points for New Jersey, which is now tied for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and snapped a two-game losing streak. Richard Jefferson scored 16 points, and Jason Kidd added 10 boards and 15 assists.

Matt Carroll scored a career-high tying 27 points for the Bobcats, who opened a three-game homestand, and have lost 12 of their last 16 games. Walter Herrmann scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Jake Voskuhl added a season-high 14 points.

Charlotte, decimated by injury, was without Raymond Felton (left quad contusion), Derek Anderson (knee), Sean May (knee), Gerald Wallace (left hip contusion), and Emeka Okafor (calf).

New Jersey opened the overtime period on an 11-6 run snapped by a Voskuhl free throw with 1:11 remaining for a 109-103 lead. The Nets proceeded to work the clock until Charlotte was forced to foul Carter, who converted both free throws for a three-possession game, 111-103, with 28.6 seconds left.

With Charlotte ahead 92-90, Jefferson converted a pair of free throws to tie the score with 56.5 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, though, Herrmann faked a bounce pass to the post, stepped back, and buried a jumper from the circle with 37.7 seconds remaining.

Jefferson then again got fouled and made both free throws to tie the score, 94-94. Brevin Knight next held the ball above the arc, then freed himself off a Vohskul screen for a jumper that put the Bobcats ahead by two, 96-94, with 8.3 seconds to go.

Kidd fired a jumper from the left wing that fell short, yet Carter caught the ball in mid-air and scored on a dunk reminiscent of the game-winner for NC State in 1983 as the buzzer sounded, abruptly sending the game into overtime.

With the score deadlocked at 19 with three minutes left, Charlotte scored six straight down the stretch for a 25-19 lead heading into the second.

The Nets scored the first six points of the stanza to knot the score at 25. Charlotte notched a slight lead, 44-43, on a 7-2 spurt finished by Carroll’s layup at 1:48, but New Jersey closed the quarter on a 5-1 run. Eddie House’s jumper with 26 seconds left put Jersey ahead 48-45 at halftime.

With Charlotte holding a two-point edge, 60-58, halfway through the third, the Nets took off on a 9-0 burst ignited by a Carter bank shot 20 seconds later. The Bobcats quickly regained control, though, closing the quarter on a 6-0 spurt snapped by Kidd’s runner with five ticks left, and the Nets led just 69-66 heading into the fourth.

After Carter’s jumper 17 seconds into the final stanza, the Bobcats rattled off eight straight points ended by Herrmann’s technical free throw that put them ahead 74-71 with 10:21 to go.

Game Notes

Saturday’s game between New Jersey and Charlotte was the third and final meeting of the regular season. The Nets came away with a 2-1 mark over the Bobcats...The Nets have won four of five and nine of the 11 all-time meetings...New Jersey has won all six matchups so far at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.