John Salmons scored a career-high 32 points and the Sacramento Kings shook off more bad injury news last night to beat the Knicks 107–97, snapping a four-game losing streak.

Ron Artest had elbow surgery earlier in the day, leaving the Kings without perhaps their three best players. Still, they never trailed and easily handed the Knicks their fifth straight loss.

Brad Miller had 26 points and 16 rebounds while Francisco Garcia added 22 points for the Kings, who led by as many as 24 in a game that was never close in the second half. Salmons added 11 rebounds and six assists.

Eddy Curry scored 24 points for the Knicks, who lost by double digits for an NBA-high 15th time. Starting forward Zach Randolph was ejected with 1:47 left in the third quarter after tossing his headband toward referee Tony Brothers after Brothers had called him for a foul.

Stephon Marbury added 16 points in his first game since December 17. He came off the bench to play 30 minutes after missing 10 of the last 13 games following his father’s death.

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NETS 96, MAGIC 95 Jason Kidd almost had a triple-double and made a key defensive stop and the Nets overcame a 15-point deficit to defeat the Orlando Magic 96–95 last night.

Vince Carter had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Kidd had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists. Kidd also set two career milestones, entering the game one assist shy of 9,000 and three rebounds short of Magic Johnson for fourth place on the career list for rebounds by a guard. He accomplished both feats in the first 3 1/2 minutes.

The Nets trailed most of the game, but finally came back in the fourth quarter. Malik Allen hit a couple of jumpers and Kidd fed Richard Jefferson for a reverse layup on a terrific play that even the Orlando crowd admired. The score trimmed Orlando’s lead to 84–80 with six minutes left.

Less than a minute later, Kidd hit a long 3 that drew the Nets even closer, and they finally took the lead on Allen’s fast-break jumper 87–86 with 4:32 left.