Jason Kidd’s rebound of a blocked shot and driving layup as he was fouled with 2.5 seconds left in overtime lifted the Nets to an 86-85 victory over the New Orleans Hornets last night.

The Hornets had a chance to win when rookie J.R. Smith, who had been the Hor nets best player of the night, was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 1.5 seconds to go. But Smith missed the first two foul shots, then tried to miss the third but ended up putting it in off the backboard, allowing New Jersey to inbound the ball and run out the clock.

Vince Carter led the Nets with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Kidd finished with 15 points and nine assists in rescuing the Nets from what nearly was their fourth straight loss. Carter has scored 20 or more points in 19 of 20 games. Jacque Vaughn scored 13 points and Nenad Krstic 12 for New Jersey, which nearly blew a 19-point lead against one of the worst teams in the NBA.

Smith had 23 for New Orleans, including a 3-pointer with 1:23 that helped New Orleans rally to tie the game. Chris Andersen had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Hornets, while Lee Nailon and Dan Dickau each scored 10.

P.J. Brown’s jumper gave New Orleans an 84-83 lead with 16.2 seconds left in overtime. Carter missed a jumper on the other end, but Jason Collins got the rebound as he was fouled to keep the Nets alive. Collins missed both free throws, then rebounded his second miss, only to have his put back slapped away by Andersen. Kidd ran it down and dribbled in for the eventual winning score.

New Jersey led by 15 early in the third quarter, but Smith and Andersen fueled an 11-2 run to cut the score to 59-55. Smith hit a 3 and finished a break with a dunk during the run. Smith was out in front on another break but lost his footing under the basket and lofted the ball up softly for Andersen, who threw down an alley-oop dunk to cap the run.

New Orleans tied the game at 75 with four straight points on Smith’s 3, followed by Speedy Claxton’s free throw with 58.2 seconds left in the game.

Carter’s jumper gave New Jersey a brief lead before Andersen’s off-balance tip-in tied it again. Carter’s missed pull-up jumper then gave New Orleans 8.2 seconds to win the game in regulation. And although New Jersey was over the limit in fouls, the Hornets settled for a 3-point attempt by Bostjan Nachbar that missed.

New Orleans’s early shooting trouble, reminiscent of the droughts the Hornets experienced in a loss Sunday against Toronto, allowed New Jersey to open up a quick double-digit lead. New Orleans shot 6-of-23 in the first period.

The Nets responded with an 18-2 run that included Kidd’s 3 and Carter’s alley-oop dunk in running out to a 24-9 lead. New Orleans failed to score 20 in the first quarter for the 26th time this season.

Vaughn, who came in averaging 4.6 points per game, scored 12 in the first quarter, then didn’t score again until his free throw in overtime.

In the second period, Carter hit a 3, then Zoran Paninic hit two more 3-pointers, and after Kidd stole a rebound from Maceij Lampe for an easy layup, it was 42-26.

New Orleans finished the last two minutes of the second period with an 8-0 run that included a jumper and soaring fast break dunk by Smith and ended with Dan Dickau’s off-balance jumper at the buzzer, leading 45-34 at halftime.

Kidd, who now has 7,101 assists in his career, passed Tim Hardaway (7,095) for 11th all-time in that category.