Hornets Can’t Contain Kidd

Unless they find a way to stop Jason Kidd, the Hornets will never play another game in Charlotte.

His right eye swollen, bruised and bandaged, Kidd looked like a battered boxer Sunday as he led the New Jersey Nets to an 89-79 victory in what may have been the Hornets’ final game in Charlotte.

Kidd scored 24 points and made eight free throws in the fourth quarter as the Nets made all the big plays down the stretch to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.

Game 5 is Wednesday at East Rutherford, N.J., where a victory would put the Nets in the conference finals for the first time in team history and would end the Hornets’ 14-year era in Charlotte.

“If we don’t believe, then there’s no point in even going to New Jersey,” Charlotte captain David Wesley said. “We just need a better effort and we’ll be back.”

The Hornets are relocating to New Orleans next season, and the 13,864 fans--more than 6,000 short of capacity--gave them a standing ovation as the game wound down. With the finality of it all setting in, they crowded the tunnel, applauding the players running dejectedly to the locker room.

“I’m confident we can still win the series,” said guard Baron Davis, who led the Hornets with 20 points but made only nine of 17 free throws.

But the game belonged to Kidd, who opened a gash above his eye in a head-to-head collision with Wesley during Game 3. Whether Kidd would play was a game-time decision because no one knew how swollen his right eye would be.

But the swelling eventually went down. So with a lot of puffiness, heavy bandages covering the stitches in his eyebrow and a deep purple bruise below it, Kidd played.

After missing his first six three-point attempts, he made one midway through the fourth and scored on a fastbreak layup that drew a foul and gave the Nets a 78-69 lead with 6:07 left.

“My vision was great, the Band-Aids didn’t bother me, and I had one good eye. That’s sometimes better off than two,” he said. “Other than some questionable passes, I was fine.”

He made several crucial free throws down the stretch, going 11 of 14 from the free-throw line to make up for his six-for-23 shooting, including one of nine three-point attempts.