Carter and Nets knock off Jazz

Richard Jefferson added 23 points while Jason Kidd chipped in 15 points and six boards for the Nets, who shot 42 percent from the floor after a four-day layoff. Antoine Wright poured in a career-high 15 points in the contest.

"I though our guys fought extremely very hard," said Nets head coach Lawrence Frank. "(They) had very, very good defensive intent. In that fourth quarter they (Utah) really got it going and were giving us some problems on a couple of situations, but our guys hung in there. We got a huge lift from Antoine Wright off the bench."

Carlos Boozer scored 15 points and matched a career-high seven assists to lead six players in double figures for the Jazz, who connected on 42.3 percent of its shots, including just 3-of-15 from beyond the arc.

Derek Fisher netted 15 and Deron Williams scored 14 points and dished out five assists. Mehmet Okur and Matt Harpring each finished with 13 points.

"I don’t know why they would have any problems playing basketball, we’re only playing in our fourth or fifth game, and you come out flat like that," said Utah head coach Jerry Sloan. "That’s a huge concern. Are we going to just be satisfied, or are we going to compete for 48 minutes? And I don’t think we came out with that attitude to compete, we were just trying to get through it it looked to me like. We aren’t good enough to do that because we don’t have a superstar player that’s going to get to the free throw line."

Trailing 70-62 heading into the fourth quarter, the Jazz reeled off a 12-6 run to start the final frame to pull within 76-74 with 7:10 to play.

A pair of Fisher free throws pulled Utah within 88-87 with under 2 1/2 minutes to play, but Carter’s finger roll on the other end of the floor extended the lead to three.

After an illegal defense call on the Nets, Fisher missed the technical free throw that would have cut the lead to two. Harpring’s layup narrowed the gap to 90-89 with 1:46 on the clock, but Carter drained a pair from the charity stripe with nearly 1 1/2 minutes remaining.

Okur missed a pair of shots sandwiched around a three-second violation on New Jersey before Jefferson drained a jumper to make it a two possession game with 16 ticks to play.

With the Jazz leading 6-2, the Nets went on a 20-7 surge, capped by Marcus Williams’ three-point play, for a 22-13 lead. New Jersey led 27-21 after the opening 12 minutes of play.

However, Utah opened the second quarter with an 8-0 rally, with Fisher and Harpring each netting eight, to move in front, 29-27.

Tied at 37, the Nets scored 10 of the final 14 points of the first half, including a trey from Williams, to take a 47-41 lead into the locker room.

New Jersey began the third quarter with a 12-5 spurt, highlighted by Carter’s three-point play, for a 59-46 advantage.

Game Notes

New Jersey forward Clifford Robinson made his season debut after completing his five-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, dating back to last season...Carter had to leave the game for a few minutes in the third after straining his quad...The Nets were 31-of-40 from the line compared to 20-for-27 for the Jazz...Utah turned the ball over 17 times...New Jersey has won five of the last six meetings...Utah’s Gordon Giricek had 11 points and five rebounds...The Jazz bench outscored the Nets’ reserves, 41-23.