OAKLAND, CALIF. ? The game already was decided, and Brian Scalabrine still wouldn’t stop. Jumpers, layups, even a wrong-footed running shot — everything was falling on the most remarkable night of his largely unremarkable career.
Scalabrine had a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds in a rare start, and Vince Carter had 17 points and nine assists in the New Jersey Nets’ 113-99 victory over the free-falling Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.
Jason Kidd had 17 points and eight assists in front of his appreciative hometown fans, while Rodney Buford scored 20 points for the Nets, who had their highest-scoring game of the season in the first win of their five-game West Coast road swing.
Scalabrine did much of the hard work in just his sixth start of the season after Jason Collins was sidelined with a strained right hamstring. He made the most of it, going 12-of-17 — mostly against Mike Dunleavy’s dismal defense — while surpassing his previous career high by eight.
“That was probably the first time in the NBA that I’ve ever been in a zone where I felt like everything I put up was going in,” the fourth-year pro said. “If you just get going like that, the basket gets really big.”
Scalabrine scored eight points in the first quarter and 12 in the fourth while the Nets held off the Warriors’ final charge. His teammates rose in cheers with every tough shot.
“I was joking with Jason after the game, because we might have to call him Wally Pipp,” New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said. “His first-quarter energy really set the tone. He was all over the place.”
Nenad Krstic added 13 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out. Carter, who rolled his right ankle one night earlier in the Nets’ blowout loss in Sacramento, capped another solid game with a swooping dunk on a long pass from Kidd in the third quarter.
The Nets won three straight before opening the trip with losses at Phoenix and Sacramento. They’re just four games out of the lead in the miserable Atlantic Division despite their 16-26 record.
“This team is starting to get a little character,” Kidd said. “Whenever we don’t play well, we’ve started to respond to that. We’re starting on a good path here.”
Jason Richardson scored 17 of his 31 points in the third quarter for the Warriors, who lost for the 12th time in 13 games. Golden State has lost its last five meetings with New Jersey.
After Kidd got as many cheers as any Golden State player in pregame introductions, New Jersey never trailed in the final 45 minutes — and Richardson, who had another solid game on both ends of the court, has grown frustrated with his teammates’ play.
“We didn’t have any energy tonight,” Richardson said. “Guys didn’t come out and play hard. You don’t get respect in this league — you have to take it. We have guys down, and there’s no one stepping up. We need other guys to step up. We have some searching to do.”
Golden State got within 85-77 with nine minutes left, but Billy Thomas scored seven straight points. Thomas, a 29-year-old veteran of the NBDL and the Italian league, scored 12 points to match his career high for the second straight night.
Thomas has made the most of his 10-day contract. He even has a new nickname: “Off-the-street Billy,” according to Kidd.
Though Golden State had the previous three days off, Cliff Robinson (lower back stiffness) and Speedy Claxton (bruised thigh) still weren’t able to play. Robinson is rumored to be a trade target for the Nets, who need frontcourt depth.
The days off didn’t help the Warriors’ shooting, either: They went 6-for-22 in the first quarter, falling into a hole they couldn’t escape. Their frustration peaked when Troy Murphy got a flagrant foul for hacking Krstic with 4:18 to play, leading to harsh words between Murphy and Carter.
“Teams come in and think we’re an easy win,” Richardson said. “It’s getting old, and I’m tired of it. Guys get career highs on us who have no business getting career highs. That’s got to stop.”
Notes: Kidd was born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, then went to high school in Alameda and college in Berkeley. … Richardson’s 17 points in the third quarter were the most by any Warriors player in a quarter this season. … Mickael Pietrus dunked on Kidd in the third quarter, then stared down the five-time all-NBA guard.
