Vince Carter had 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and the New Jersey Nets beat Chicago 106–97 last night, costing the Bulls the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Mikki Moore had 22 points and Jason Kidd added 11 assists and 11 rebounds as the Nets clinched the No. 6 seed in the East and dropped the Bulls to No. 5, where they face a tough matchup with the defending champion Miami Heat.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were the beneficiary of only the Bulls’ third loss in 13 games. They get the No. 2 spot and will face either Washington or Orlando in the opening round.

New Jersey, which won eight of 11 to finish at .500, will now face the Atlantic Division champion Toronto Raptors.

The Nets had plenty of stars in surprising Chicago. Bostjan Nachbar hit three big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and scored 10 of his 15 points. Josh Boone converted a go-ahead three-point play late in the third quarter to give New Jersey the lead for good at 71-68, and the rookie added seven of his 15 in the fourth quarter.

Richard Jefferson added 21 points on 5-of-18 shooting.

Kirk Hinrich had 20 points and Andres Nocioni added 19 for the Bulls, who never overcame an early 15-point deficit. Ben Gordon and Luol Deng had 15 points apiece for the Bulls, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.

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KNICKS 94, BOBCATS 93 Eddy Curry scored 28 points and tipped in a miss with 0.6 seconds left to give the Knicks a 94–93 victory over Charlotte last night, spoiling the final game for Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff.

After Raymond Felton’s threepoint play gave Charlotte the lead with 9.9 seconds left, the Knicks raced the ball up the floor. Malik Rose missed a baseline jumper, but Curry tipped it in from the weak side.

Felton’s desperation half-court shot at the buzzer didn’t hit iron.

Steve Francis added 24 points for the Knicks, who snapped a fivegame losing streak and avoided their second straight 50-loss season.

Walter Herrmann scored 22 points and Felton added 19 for the Bobcats, who failed to let Bickerstaff go out a winner.

Bickerstaff, who has spent more than 30 years in the NBA as an assistant, head coach and general manager, was hired as Charlotte’s first coach and GM shortly after the team was formed.

Bickerstaff was 77–169 in Charlotte, but improved from 18 wins to 26 to 33 in the expansion team’s three seasons. He’s expected to remain in the Bobcats’ front office.

Bickerstaff didn’t have much to work with in his last game.

Charlotte was without Matt Carroll (back), Sean May (knee) and Jake Voskuhl (knee), while Adam Morrison was held to three minutes because of a sprained knee.

Bobcats leading scorer Gerald Wallace had only 12 points in 28 minutes because of pain in both knees. Emeka Okafor was held to three points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes and fouled out with 6:25 left.