Nets Win as Kidd Sidelined

With their best player sidelined by a knee injury, the New Jersey Nets got big efforts from elsewhere.

Kerry Kittles scored a season-high 34 points, including four free throws in the final 15 seconds, and the Nets beat the Nuggets, 95-91, Tuesday night at Denver.

Kenyon Martin added 22 points, including five straight points for the Nets down the stretch, as New Jersey improved to 15-2 under interim Coach Lawrence Frank.

The Nets won despite the absence of All-Star point guard Jason Kidd, who has a bone bruise in his left knee.

“That shows the character of this team,” Kittles said. “We faced some adversity, but it is a resilient bunch of guys.”

Carmelo Anthony had 26 points as Denver lost for the sixth time in seven games.

“We got caught in a halfcourt game with them in the second half,” Nugget Coach Jeff Bzdelik said, “and that’s not good for us. I couldn’t get my guys to move and to run and to get into people so we could create and force the tempo.”

Toronto 89, Miami 86 -- Vince Carter came off the injured list and scored 27 points at Miami to help the Raptors stop a nine-game losing streak in a game featuring a dubious NBA record.

The teams combined to score 19 points in the fourth quarter, breaking the league record for fewest combined points (20) in the final period.

The game ended with Heat Coach Stan Van Gundy’s screaming at the officials after no foul was called on Chris Bosh on Eddie Jones’ three-point attempt at the buzzer.

Carter had missed six games because of an ankle sprain.

Dallas 107, Seattle 96 -- Michael Finley scored 35 points, 20 in the fourth quarter, to help the Mavericks stretch their winning streak to six games with a victory at Dallas.

Finley had 11 points in a decisive 22-1 stretch run that lifted the Mavericks, who played without point guard Steve Nash (stomach flu). Ray Allen had 25 points for Seattle.

Indiana 96, Golden State 88 -- Reggie Miller scored 21 points to lead the Pacers to victory at Oakland in a game featuring the return of Ron Artest and an ugly confrontation.

Golden State’s Cliff Robinson and Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal were ejected with 3:23 left after two separate incidents on each end of the court. The players had to be restrained all the way off the court as they continued to yell at each other. Fans threw two plastic bottles toward the Pacer bench and another bottle went toward O’Neal as he left.

Artest had 12 points and six rebounds after being unexpectedly activated from the injured list. He had surgery to repair a torn ligament on his non-shooting hand on Feb. 19.

Mike Dunleavy had 24 points and 20 rebounds for the Warriors.