Nets edge Hornets

Jason Kidd scored 18 points and dished out 12 assists, while Mikki Moore added 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Nets, who have won two straight since dropping five in a row. Eddie House and Bostjan Nachbar each chipped in 12 points in the victory.

"It’s good to finish the trip with two wins, we obviously wish we could have done better," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "Now we go home and face one of the best teams in the league, and one of the best teams in the conference, the Miami Heat."

New Jersey finished a sizzling 58 percent shooting from the field.

Chris Paul had 25 points and 12 helpers for the Hornets, who have lost a season-high six consecutive contests. David West netted 24 points, Devin Brown donated 13 and Desmond Mason and Bobby Jackson contributed 12 points apiece.

"You have to give the Nets a lot credit because they shot the ball extremely well tonight," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "We didn’t get it done and we didn’t do enough to off-set what they were doing. They just shot the ball extremely well tonight."

New Orleans made it interesting in the final frame. Down by seven with 2:13 to play, Brown’s three-pointer sparked a 9-2 spurt to knot the game at 104 at the 1:06 mark.

After Carter drained a layup, Brown added one of his own to even things once more. Carter then converted twice from the charity stripe with 40 seconds left and New Jersey ended the game 6-of-8 from the line to ice the game.

Marcus Williams’ jumper capped the first quarter as New Jersey led 29-25, and a 17-8 burst to open the second gave the Nets a 13-point advantage with 6:10 left.

New Orleans, though, responded with an 18-6 run — capped by West’s tip-in at the buzzer — and cut its deficit to 52-51 at the break.

The Nets maintained their lead in the third, and went up by as many as 13 on Kidd’s layup with 4:13 remaining. The Hornets then went on a 15-6 scamper, but still trailed 82-78 entering the fourth.

New Orleans shot 46.5 percent from the floor.

Game Notes

Tyson Chandler pulled down 11 boards for New Orleans...Both teams shot well from three-point range, with New Jersey shooting 55 percent and the Hornets converting 56 percent from beyond the arc...The Nets have won nine of 13 and 12 of the last 17 meetings.