Nets Look to Get Past Sonics Without Help of Injured Jefferson
Team Page: Seattle :: New Jersey
72% of The Public Betting Nets -3.5 | Matchup | NBA Picks
The New Jersey Nets may be without their second-leading scorer, but Vince Carter and Jason Kidd are picking up the slack.
They’ll try to lead the Nets to back-to-back wins for the first time this season when they meet the Seattle SuperSonics at Continental Airlines Arena on Monday.
Oddsmakers have made New Jersey -3.5 point spread favorites (NBA Odds) for tonights game, the over/under has been set at 195 total points (View NBA Sports Books).
Richard Jefferson, who’s averaging 16.5 points in four games this season, is out indefinitely after spraining his left ankle in Friday’s loss to the Miami Heat. New Jersey (3-2) passed its first test without the 6-foot-7 forward on Sunday, beating the Washington Wizards 105-93 in overtime.
Carter scored at least 30 points for the third straight game, finishing with a season-high 34 – including a 3-pointer to force overtime, one of five he drained.
Kidd recorded his second triple-double of the season and 77th of his career with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 18 assists and is now just one behind Wilt Chamberlain for third-most in NBA history.
Kidd also moved past Rod Strickland for seventh on the NBA career assists list with a total of 7,997.
“I thought Jason Kidd directed a floor game as well as anyone I’ve ever seen,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. “He was phenomenal in terms of driving the ship.”
Kidd’s ability to find his teammates continues to make the Nets even harder to defend as both Nenad Krstic and Bostjan Nachbar had season-highs with 22 and 15 points, respectively.
The Nets will try to continue that success against the Sonics (3-4), who they have beaten in five of the last six meetings in New Jersey. The Nets are scoring an average of 103.2 points on 50.8 percent shooting while holding the Sonics to 93.2 points.
Ray Allen scored the most important points for Seattle on Saturday, hitting the game-winning layup with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime of a 113-112 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
“I actually like close games,” Sonics coach Bob Hill said. “I think they’re fun. They’re more fun when you win. We answered, they answered, and we answered last. It was fun. It was a back-to-back for both teams.”
Allen had a season-high 33 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter and overtime, to boost his team-leading average to 26.0 points this season. Luke Ridnour added 19 points after totaling that mark in his previous three games combined and Chris Wilcox had a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
Rashard Lewis, Seattle’s second-leading scorer, added 23 points in the victory, but has struggled during his career against the Nets. Lewis is averaging 13.7 points in 15 games versus New Jersey, his third-lowest mark against any opponent.
The Sonics are trying to win three in a row on the road for the first time since March 20-29, 2005.
The teams will conclude their season series next Monday in Seattle.
By: Marc Young – theSpread.com – Email Us
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