SAN ANTONIO – Tim Duncan made a quick return to the Spurs lineup after leaving his last game with an injury, and had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead San Antonio past the Nets 90-74 last night.

Following Sunday’s game against Utah, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had said he expected Duncan to miss the game against the Nets.

Duncan missed the final 20 minutes against the Jazz when he stepped on teammate Rasho Nesterovic’s foot while defending a drive by Andrei Kirilenko.

Reserve guard Devin Brown had a game high 22 points for the Spurs, who expected Duncan to miss this game after leaving Sunday’s win against Utah with a sprained right ankle less than four minutes into the second half.

The Nets struggled early, hitting just 4 of their first 25 shots. Vince Carter, who had a season-high 43 points against the Spurs on February 11, missed his first seven shots and finished with 13 points on 4-for-18 shooting. It ended Carter’s streak of 18 games with at least 20 points.

In the first meeting between the teams, Carter had his way with defender Tim Bowen – one of the NBA’s best defenders – as he scored a season high-tying 43 points before he was ejected with 9:43 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Carter’s ejection came after he picked up his second technical foul, both of which occurred as the result of confrontations with Bowen.

Nearly a month later, Bowen harassed and frustrated Carter.

Nenad Krstic was the only New Jersey player who didn’t have any trouble with his shots, hitting 8-of-10 from the floor for a team-high 19 points.

New Jersey trailed by as many as 20 points in the first half, before turning it around with 9-of-18 shooting from the floor to start the second half. The Nets shot 32% (26-for-81) for the game.

New Jersey cut the Spurs’ lead to 60-54 on Rodney Buford’s jumper from just inside the 3-point line with 2:20 left in the third quarter.

However, the Spurs closed the period with an 8-4 run and extended their lead to as many as 19 points in the fourth.

The loss dropped the Eastern Conference to 0-13 at San Antonio’s SBC Center this season. The Spurs have not lost a home game against an East team since a 98-96 defeat to New Orleans on January 24, 2004.

San Antonio’s Tony Massenburg was ejected from the game after throwing an elbow at the Nets’ Jason Collins and tossing the ball in the direction of an official. Collins stayed in the game but fouled out a minute later.

The Spurs activated reserve guard Mike Wilks after he spent five games on the injured list because of left patella tendinitis.