Nets State Their Case by Dominating Kings

For one night, the New Jersey Nets showed that the Eastern Conference can more than hold its own against the best in the West.

Rodney Rogers made his first six shots and the two-time defending Eastern Conference champions beat the Sacramento Kings on offense and defense in a 94-77 victory on Tuesday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

“It was very important,” said Rogers, who finished with 20 points on eight-of-11 shooting. “We’re still trying to get ourselves back right. They’re the best in the NBA right now. We had to set a standard and go out and play a good game against them.”

The win ended the Nets’ three-game losing streak against the Kings and avenged a 105-92 decision in Sacramento on Nov. 30, a game in which the Kings led, 60-28, at halftime.

“We just came out there and competed, and we showed we can play with the best in this league,” said Jason Kidd, whose 13 assists helped the Nets enjoy a 30-6 advantage on the fastbreak.

This game was similar to the game in November, except the Nets dominated in leading by as many as 30 points.

“We have no excuses tonight,” King Coach Rick Adelman said. “They just handed us a good old whipping.”

The Nets made 18 of their first 27 shots from the field and held the Kings to nine first-quarter points, the lowest-scoring quarter of the season for the NBA’s highest-scoring team.

Kerry Kittles led New Jersey with 24 points. Mike Bibby had 17 points for Sacramento and Chris Webber had 15, missing his first five shots and finishing five of 17. Peja Stojakovic had 11 points, all in the first half.

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Memphis 82, Philadelphia 79 -- In a game featuring the return of the 76ers’ Allen Iverson, Pau Gasol had 22 points and James Posey scored the final four -- including a go-ahead layup with 15 seconds remaining -- to help the Grizzlies erase a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and guarantee the franchise’s first winning record with a victory at Memphis, Tenn.

Iverson, who had 10 points but missed all seven of his second-half shots, returned to the starting lineup after sitting out four games because of a bad knee. Iverson criticized interim Coach Chris Ford and refused to play in Sunday’s game against Detroit after Ford decided he wouldn’t start.

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Cleveland 111, Chicago 87 -- Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 24 points and had 17 rebounds at Cleveland as the Cavaliers won their seventh straight -- their longest winning streak since 1997.

Ilgauskas had 10 of his rebounds on the offensive end as Cleveland improved to 11-3 since the All-Star break. Jamal Crawford had 17 points for Chicago, which lost its seventh in a row.

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New York 114, Washington 110 -- Tim Thomas scored 32 points, and Stephon Marbury had 16 points and 14 assists in overtime at New York.

The Knicks had a chance to win their first overtime game in six tries this season only because Nazr Mohammed -- whose last-second overtime basket was waved off Friday at Philadelphia -- tipped in a shot to tie it at the end of regulation.

Gilbert Arenas had 27 points for Washington.

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Portland 100, Milwaukee 99 -- Damon Stoudamire made a fallaway jumper with one second left at Milwaukee to lift the Trail Blazers past the slumping Bucks.

Portland blew a 20-point third-quarter lead but rallied in the final minute to win its fourth in a row. Derek Anderson and Darius Miles had 20 points apiece for Portland. Michael Redd had 26 points for Milwaukee, which lost its fourth in a row.

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Miami 96, New Orleans 83 -- Dwyane Wade scored 23 points as the Heat never trailed in winning its sixth straight home game.

New Orleans’ Jamaal Magloire and Miami’s Lamar Odom each were ejected in the third quarter of a game featuring seven technical fouls.

Baron Davis had 23 points for New Orleans.

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Seattle 118, Atlanta 110 -- Brent Barry had a season-high 28 points at Atlanta to help the SuperSonics win two in a row for the first time in 24 games. Stephen Jackson had 39 points for the Hawks.