Posted at 3:59 p.m., Saturday, November 3, 2007
NBA: Kidd has triple-double as Nets beat 76ers, 93-88
By DAN GELSTON
Associated Press
Vince Carter added 18 points for the Nets.
Andre Iguodala led the Sixers with 16 points, and Kyle Korver had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Kidd thwarted a late Sixers rally with a 3-pointer from the left side to give the Nets an 86-80 lead. Kidd was dependable as he's always been for New Jersey, posting his 88th career triple-double and 50th with the Nets.
The Nets needed that kind of effort after they lost 106-69 on Friday night at Toronto.
Bostjan Nachbar, though, delivered for the Nets off the bench in the fourth, hitting a pair of 3s that kept them from letting the game slip away. Nachbar, who sank his only 3s of the game in the quarter was on the floor to open the fourth when coach Lawrence Frank decided to mix up the rotation.
The Nets opened the fourth with Carter and four reserves while Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks, looking for a way to get the Sixers going, started the period will five reserves on the floor.
Korver sank his first 3 to pull the Sixers within five. Rodney Carney picked Carter clean and turned the steal into a fastbreak dunk.
Nachbar, though, answered each of those baskets with 3-pointers to put New Jersey up 75-67.
Korver and Lou Williams have been the only reliable offensive options for the Sixers off the bench. Williams converted a steal into a dunk and then scored on a driving layup that made it 77-73. Samuel Dalembert, who scored 13 points, sank two free throws and it was only a two-point deficit.
Iguodala's 3 sliced the lead to 83-79, but the Sixers never got closer than three points over the final 4 minutes.
Dalembert missed 4 of 8 free throws in the waning minutes that squelched all hope of a rally for the Sixers, who opened a four-game homestand after playing the first two on the road.
The Nets rebounded from a woeful first half to shoot 41 percent from the floor. Not bad, considering the Nets missed 15 of 21 shots in the first quarter.
Both teams missed a ton of shots early and looked sluggish, indicative perhaps of playing a back-to-back a night after each team was on the road.