Ridnour, Sonics down Nets

"We were just getting out in transition early, getting a lot of transition points helped get us the lead," Ridnour said. "They were coming hard at us, getting to the line, hitting threes, but for us to finish it, because we’ve had leads before and lost the game, this was big."

Rashard Lewis posted 27 points and 11 rebounds for the SuperSonics, who won their third straight. Ray Allen and Chris Wilcox both netted 22 points in the win.

Vince Carter scored a season-high 38 points for the Nets, who have split their last six games. Nenad Krstic scored 21 points. Jason Kidd notched 20 points and 12 assists to pass Rod Strickland for seventh on the all-time assists list. Marcus Williams added a career-high 11 points in defeat.

"They were hot in the first half and we were playing uphill," Kidd said. "We had a 7-3 lead and they kept going and we kind of sputtered. They had a lot of looks and knocked them down."

Trailing 113-100 with 4:26 remaining, the Nets started to rally with an 8-0 run down the stretch until Ridnour got fouled as the shot clock expired and converted a pair of free throws for a 115-108 Sonics lead with 1:15 left.

Carter banked in a jumper with 38 seconds left for a five-point Nets deficit.

Ridnour, however, hit another pair of free throws with 37.4 seconds remaining. Carter lofted a floater in the lane that rimmed out, and Lewis scored a layup with 8.1 seconds left to seal the win. Carter drained a three with 1.2 seconds on the clock, but it was too late.

Seattle exploded on a 24-5 run capped by an Allen three-pointer with 2:40 remaining, and led 35-17 heading into the second.

The Sonics went on a 12-2 run midway through the second capped by a three- point play by Wilcox with 4:18 to go. Sparked by a pair of Kidd free throws 12 seconds later, New Jersey clawed its way back on a 12-2 spurt of its own to close out the quarter for a 60-42 halftime deficit.

New Jersey outscored Seattle by two points in the third quarter for a 96-80 deficit heading into the fourth.

Game Notes

Seattle and the Nets split a pair of contests in 2005-06. The SuperSonics have won two of their last seven at New Jersey.