EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ? Vince Carter and Jason Kidd came close to having a game the NBA hasn’t seen since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were in their prime.
Carter scored a season-high 33 points, Jason Kidd added 17 points and 10 assists, and both came close to triple-doubles in the New Jersey Nets’ 96-90 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night.
Jordan and Pippen were the last teammates to record a triple-double in the same game, doing it against the Los Angeles Clippers on Jan. 3, 1989. Jordan had 41 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Pippen had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.
“I guess that’s what the organization wants, for us to go out there and be a duo like that and fill up the stat sheet,” said Carter, who had nine rebounds and nine assists in missing his second career triple-double. “The goal of mine is to try and compete with him (Kidd). In all reality, it’s not going to happen, but why not set your goals high?”
Kidd finished two rebounds shy of his 62nd career triple-double, which would have been his third in five games.
“I’m not going to be like Oscar Robertson and average a triple-double for the whole season,” Kidd said. “This just shows that everybody was touching the ball.”
Kidd and Carter also provided the highlight of the game with Kidd feeding Carter an alley-oop dunk for an 84-74 lead with 6:29 to play.
“Give me anybody and I feel comfortable once I get out on the floor,” Kidd said. “With Vince, he makes it so easy. You just get him in his rhythm. He does the hard part on the alley-oops. You just don’t want to overthrow.”
Carter, who was 14-of-24 from the field, felt he could have had the triple-double.
“I heard it at the end of the game but I was tired,” he said. “I wish they would have told me earlier. I tried, but the ball just didn’t want to come to me.”
Rodney Buford added 17 points and rookie Nenad Krstic had 16 points as the Nets snapped a four-game losing streak against the Bucks, who failed to win the 1,600th game in their 36-year franchise history.
Michael Redd scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half, Desmond Mason added 17 points and Mike James had 13 for Milwaukee, which embarrassed New Jersey 97-74 on Jan. 5 in their only meeting this season.
“We were careless with the ball,” said Redd, noting the Nets had 15 fast-break points, nine more than in their earlier meeting. “It’s very frustrating because I thought we could have pulled it out in the fourth quarter.”
Redd hit his first five shots of the second half in rallying the Bucks from a 54-47 deficit to a 66-63 third quarter lead.
The Nets took the lead for good with a 14-2 run that bridged the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth. Carter had eight points in the spurt, starting the third-quarter portion with a jumper and opening the fourth with two straight baskets for a 77-68 lead.
The closest the Bucks got the rest of the way came with under 20 seconds to play when Desmond Mason hit a baseline shot to get Milwaukee within 94-90. Travis Best then hit two free throws to give the Nets their first two-game winning streak this month.
Notes: Nets F Richard Jefferson is scheduled to have surgery on Thursday to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist. He is out for the season. … Nets F Brian Scalabrine played for the first time since Dec. 22. He missed 12 games with a hamstring injury. … Nets G Ron Mercer, who has been sidelined since the third game of the season with knee injury, returned to practice this week. … Former Net Keith Van Horn, who just returned from an ankle injury, had six points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.
