Charlotte, N.C. ? Richard Jefferson’s strong finish was just enough to give the New Jersey Nets their first win in four games.
Jefferson scored 26 points to lift the Nets past the Charlotte Bobcats 94-91 on Tuesday night and snap Charlotte’s five-game, home-winning streak.
Jefferson scored 11 of New Jersey’s final 14 points. Vince Carter, recently acquired by the Nets in a trade with Toronto, still hasn’t played for New Jersey because of a sore Achilles’ tendon.
Nets center Nenad Krstic had 13 points and 12 rebounds in his first NBA start but was ejected midway through the third quarter for hitting Gerald Wallace in the face with an elbow while clearing room after a rebound. Krstic was averaging 11 minutes and four points per game, but was the game’s leading scorer and rebounder when he was tossed.
“The ref’s interpretation was that it was an elbow foul and cause for automatic ejection,” said Nets coach Lawrence Frank, who raced onto the court to angrily dispute the call. “I didn’t feel it warranted an ejection, but I’ll reserve judgment.”
Krstic said, “I just turned around to protect the ball. They hit me first in the head, I just spun around.”
The ejection didn’t seem to faze the Nets, who never lost the lead.
“We were not very good,” Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. “The thing about the NBA is that it is very humbling, very quickly. This was one of the few basketball games where we were not ready to play. New Jersey, I’m sure, would like to see us quite frequently, they get well on us.”
Kareem Rush led Charlotte with 23 points. Rookie Emeka Okafor, the Bobcats’ leading scorer, was held scoreless in the first half before finishing with his 13th consecutive double-double – posting 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Bobcats struggled from the free throw line, going 15-for-29.
Krstic dominated inside early on, nearly posting a double-double in the first half with nine points and 10 rebounds as the Nets led 45-39 at the break.
The Bobcats started slow, falling behind by 10 in the first quarter, but rallied to tie it behind Rush’s barrage of 3-pointers.
Notes: Jason Hart had a career-high 15 assists for the Bobcats. … Among those sitting courtside were Carolina Panthers quarterback Rodney Peete and his wife, actress Holly Robinson-Peete.
