Nets Hold Pistons In Check, Snap Four-Game Losing Streak

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Jason Kidd had 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Nets past Detroit 91-84 last night, snapping the Pistons’ NBA-best 11-game winning streak.Richard Jefferson and Nenad Krstic each scored 19 for New Jersey, which snapped a four-game losing streak. The Nets won their eighth straight game at Continental Airlines Arena.Chauncey Billups led Detroit with 30 points, including 6-for-6 from 3-point range. The Pistons, who entered the game shooting 46% from the field this season, were 30-of-82 (37%). Leading scorer Richard Hamilton scored 19 points, three below his average, but shot 8-for-24 from the field.The Nets led 85-81 with 2:00 left after Kidd found Vince Carter for an acrobatic alley-oop dunk.Billups answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to pull Detroit within a point, and Krstic fumbled a pass out of bounds at the other end for New Jersey.But Tayshaun Prince committed an offensive foul on Detroit’s next possession, and Kidd made a 3-pointer with 48 seconds left to give the Nets an 88-84 lead.Detroit trailed by as many as 10 points midway through the third quarter as Kidd sank a 3-pointer and two jumpers sandwiched around a jumper by Jason Collins, his only points of the night.New Jersey failed to score for the final two minutes of the third but still finished the period with a 67-62 lead as the Pistons shot 7-for-19. Hamilton heated up after a cold (3-for-12) first half with three early baskets but the Pistons went four minutes between field goals before Hamilton closed the quarter with a baseline jumper off an inbounds pass with 1.5 seconds left.After allowing Seattle, Portland, and the L.A. Clippers to shoot at or near 50% from the field in their last three losses, the Nets tightened up on defense and held the Pistons to 37% shooting in the first half.Neither team led by more than six points in a closely played first 24 minutes. Detroit held a 40-36 advantage after Billups’s technical foul shot after the Nets were whistled for defensive three seconds. New Jersey then scored 10 of the last 12 points of the half, six by Jefferson – including a fast-break dunk on which he switched hands and threw it down lefthanded – and four by Krstic.

Nets Hold Pistons In Check, Snap Four-Game Losing Streak

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