EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Richard Jefferson never had a victory over the Dallas
Mavericks. Jason Kidd hardly could remember even being competitive against them
since coming to New Jersey.
But, with one dominant quarter, the Nets ended six years of frustration.
Jefferson scored 28 points and New Jersey snapped an 11-game losing streak
against Dallas with a 100-89 victory Sunday.
"I am an optimist, and why not today?" Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "It
just goes to say how quality an organization Dallas is. They've been an elite
team for a long time and we want to be up in those ranks."
Vince Carter added 23 points for the Nets, who have won five in a row overall
and 18 of 21 at home. Kidd rebounded from a pair of quiet scoring games to add
15 points, including a pair of jumpers to halt Dallas' momentum after the Mavs
twice got within 11 early in the fourth quarter.
New Jersey had not beaten the Mavs since March 2, 2000. The Nets' worst loss
of this season came in a 110-77 Mavericks rout on Jan. 14.
"We were talking about that in the locker room," Kidd said. "We felt that we
had maybe two games that were close. Once at their place and once here, and
besides that they were no contests."
This time it was the Nets who rolled, leading by double digits for nearly all
of the final 40 minutes and knocking the Mavs out of a share of the top spot in
the Western Conference. Dallas fell a half-game behind Southwest Division rival
San Antonio.
"We knew how badly they beat us last time so there was some extra motivation
to come out and just play a solid basketball game," Carter said.
Dirk Nowitzki tied his season high with 37 points, but he got off to a
horrible start right along with the rest of his teammates in the Mavericks'
lowest-scoring quarter of the season. Dallas scored only 10 points in the first
12 minutes and had its three-game winning streak snapped.
"We were climbing uphill all night long," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said.
"We thought if we could have had a normal quarter offensively and not be in the
hole down by 20 points like we were in the first quarter, then we'd be OK."