WASHINGTON – With Gilbert Arenas ailing, Chucky Atkins made a strong case for the playing time he feels he deserves.

Atkins started for the first time this season and ran the offense effectively, scoring 12 points with nine assists last night to lead a balanced attack in the Washington Wizards’ 94-74 victory over the Nets.

Atkins started all 82 games for the Los Angeles Lakers last season but has been a bit player since the trade that brought him to the Wizards. He’s averaging only 17 minutes and hasn’t played at all in four of the team’s first 20 games, festering discontentment that became public when he suggested to the Washington Times that he would like to be traded.

Vince Carter, who started 0-for-6, scored 14 points, Richard Jefferson scored 13, and Kidd had 12 for the Nets, who shot 29% in the first quarter and 39% for the game. New Jersey, which had a four-game road winning streak snapped, got only two points from its reserves in the first three quarters.

“It was just an up-and-down effort once again,” Carter said. “We’ve just got to defend. If we have any plans of making it into the second season, we definitely won’t do it playing the defense we’re playing right now.”

The Wizards took control early. Atkins had three assists, Hayes scored nine points, and Washington shot 65 percent in the first quarter to take a 29-14 lead. The lead grew to 38-18 in the second before the Nets had their only good run, a half-ending 17-4 spurt to pull within 42-35 at halftime.

Hayes made a 3-pointer to get the lead back to 10 early in the third quarter, and the Nets didn’t get within single digits again. Hayes finished 7-for-12 from the field, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range, to lead the team in scoring for the first time this season. Hayes also completed a fourpoint play in the first quarter after being fouled by Carter while making a 3-pointer.

“A lot of times when a guy is out who’s their best player, it’s a proving ground,” New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said. “It’s an opportunity for others to show, and that’s what they did. We obviously couldn’t get enough done.”

Last night’s game helped Atkins’ smorale, but he started only because Arenas, the team’s best player, was on the bench with a badly bruised back.

“I ain’t saying I should be starting, but I think I deserve some minutes,” Atkins said. “That’s all I’m saying. It’s not a situation where I’m saying I demand to be traded. I’m in a peculiar situation myself. I’m in a contract season. They made a trade for me, and I want to play, I want to compete, that’s all.”

Arenas, who leads the Wizards in scoring (27.7 points), assists (6.2), steals (1.58), minutes (41.4), and turnovers (3.9), sat out for the first time this season. He bruised his back when he crashed to the floor after his shot was blocked from behind Saturday in a loss to Chicago. He played Sunday at Miami but struggled through a 5-for-24 shooting performance.

Yet, without Arenas, the Wizards never trailed and had five players in double figures as they broke a three game losing streak in the final game before their five-game West Coast road trip. Jarvis Hayes scored 19 points, Antawn Jamison had 12 points and eight rebounds, Etan Thomas scored 12, and Caron Butler added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

But no one played more than Atkins, who said he wasn’t about to ask to come out despite getting winded during his 45 minutes on the court, much of it defending Jason Kidd.

“He’s a professional,” Washington coach Eddie Jordan said. “He probably made a slight mistake by going public before he had a conversation with the GM, but I’ve said all along he’s been a professional on the floor at practice, in the locker room, on the planes, on busses. I never saw any real unhappiness or anything like that.”

Wizards president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld said there were no plans to trade Atkins.

Nets forward Jason Collins returned after missing three straight games with a sore right leg, although Clifford Robinson continued to start. Collins went scoreless in 16 minutes, though he did grab two rebounds, hand out an assist, and block a shot.

As for the other Nets, Nenad Krstic had four points and four rebounds in 19 minutes, Jeff McInnis had eight points and two assists in 17 minutes, and Jacque Vaughn made all three of his shots from the floor for his eight points.

Elsewhere, Lamond Murray, Zoran Planinic, and Marc Jackson combined for four points in 28 minutes.