Nets clinch division without Kidd and Martin

Rodney Rogers collected 20 points and seven boards for the Nets, who clinched the Atlantic Division title as Miami fell to the Pistons on Friday. New Jersey, shooting a season-high 60 percent, also received 18 points from Richard Jefferson.

The Nets picked up the win without the services of their two best players as Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin once again did not play.

At the other end, the Knicks had just three players in double figures. Stephon Marbury and Anfernee Hardaway each scored 14 to lead the way, while Tim Thomas added 13. New York fell into a tie for seventh in the Eastern Conference with Boston, which came out victorious in earlier action against Golden State.

Harris, Kidd’s replacement, scored 13 points in the opening quarter to help the Nets out to a 28-18 lead with a minute left, but New York countered with six straight points to pull within four early in the second.

New Jersey answered in a bigger way with 23 of the next 32 points to open up an 18-point margin, 53-35, with 3:12 to go in the period, before the Knicks closed out the half with an 8-2 spurt to draw within 55-43 at the break.

Harris topped all scorers with 15 in the first 24 minutes, two more than Rogers, while Marbury paced the Knicks with nine.

The Knicks got as close as six after a Kurt Thomas jumper made it 69-63 with 5:19 to play in the third frame.

Jefferson netted six points in a row to ignite a 10-0 run in a span of less than two minutes that closed out the stanza with New Jersey ahead 87-70.

The Nets ran away with from there, holding the Knicks to just nine points in the first 10 minutes of the final quarter. At that point, New Jersey led 104-79 as New York pretty much threw in the towel and emptied its bench midway through the period.