EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ? When the New Jersey Nets combine the talents of their Big Three with a little defense, wins usually follow.
Vince Carter scored 22 points, Richard Jefferson had 20 and Jason Kidd narrowly missed his first triple-double of the season as the Nets bounced back from two bad road losses to beat the Golden State Warriors 82-72 Friday night.
“We’ve always taken pride in our offense being our defense,” said Kidd, who had 13 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists as the Nets sent the Warriors to their fourth straight loss.
“Right now we’re in transition with new guys and we’re trying to figure each other out,” said Kidd, alluding to the Nets’ woeful 12-20 start. “The one thing you can always do is play defense. I think coach’s message got across to us.”
In losing to Washington and Milwaukee by 20-plus points earlier this week, the Nets didn’t play much defense and earned the chagrin of coach Lawrence Frank.
“We stepped it up,” Carter said. “There wasn’t any remedy. Guys just took the challenge individually and as a team to really guard the ball. It’s not saying we weren’t giving effort. We could have given a little more effort.”
Mike Dunleavy, Calbert Cheaney and Mickael Pietrus scored 12 points apiece for the Warriors, who played their fourth straight game without starting shooting guard Jason Richardson (sprained left ankle). Cliff Robinson added 11 points, five rebounds and three blocks.
The 72 points was the Warriors’ third lowest total this season.
“Tonight was the first night we really, really missed Jason,” said Dunleavy. “We really struggled to score.”
The Warriors, who trailed by 10 points heading into the fourth quarter, made the game interesting with a 7-0 run that got them to 69-66 on a 3-pointer by Derek Fisher with 6:03 to play.
After both teams missed shots, Jefferson hit a baseline jumper, Jason Collins made two free throws, Kidd nailed a 3-pointer and Carter scored in the lane for a 78-66 lead.
The Nets forced two turnovers and five missed shots in the span that iced the game.
“What are we missing?” Robinson asked rhetorically. “We’re missing consistent basketball. That’s all we are missing. That’s basically the answer.”
New Jersey had opened its lead late in the third quarter with an 11-0 spurt that Carter capped with an alley-oop dunk on a feed from Kidd, who had his best all-around game since returning to the lineup last month.
Rookie center Nenad Krstic added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Nets.
Warriors forward Troy Murphy, a New Jersey product, had seven points and four rebounds to have his streak of eight straight double-doubles snapped.
