PORTLAND – There was noise in the Nets locker room. Loud chatter, lots of laughter.
“You hear it. Everybody is talking. It’s loud,” Bostjan Nachbar said. “It has been so depressing. When was the last time you heard this?”
The last time Vince Carter played a full game?
Carter returned form his five-game absence caused by a sprained right ankle. Truthfully, he wasn’t the only returnee.
Nachbar was back. And Richard Jefferson. And Jason Kidd. And Antoine Wright. The flow, rhythm and shooting in the offense were back.
And so was winning.
In what can only be called a team victory from top to bottom, the Nets celebrated Carter coming back by rallying from a double-digit deficit. They scored the game’s final eight points to end a six-game losing streak with a 106-101 victory over the Blazers here last night.
Carter, after some early-game rust – he last played Nov. 10 – finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 28 minutes off the bench. Nice numbers, not great numbers.
Carter, who had four turnovers, said he was just a little over-anxious at the beginning.
“I was just a little too excited out there,” he said. “I was just trying to make a difference. With everybody, the mood was good. [It was], ‘Don’t panic, just fix it.’ Everyone was upbeat.”
But he was so effective in helping Jefferson amass a 30-point game, in leading Nachbar to a spectacular 23-point night, in getting Antoine Wright 11 points. With Carter on the floor, Kidd didn’t have to do everything – but he did anyway.
Kidd collected the 90th triple-double of his career and third this season, picking up 12 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds.
“Look at how many open shots everyone got, just by having him on the court,” Jefferson – who according to coach Lawrence Frank racked up numerous hockey assists by making the pass that led to the pass that brought a score – said of Kidd.
“Boki [Nachbar] got wide-open shots, Antoine got wide-open shots. I was getting one-on-one coverage on the short post. Everything just opened up.”
The Nets (5-7) took full advantage. They banged home 13 3-pointers, five by Nachbar. They shot a season-high .537, and they hadn’t even smelled 50 percent in a game.
“Vince obviously helped, but it was a heckuva team win,” said Frank, who started his fifth different lineup, fourth in five games, with Jason Collins and Malik Allen replacing Jamaal Magloire and Sean Williams. “But was it all about Vince? No, it was a team win.”
After trailing by 11 in the third quarter, the Nets fought back and used every tool at their disposal – including defense by Wright (11 points) and Kidd (primarily) on Brandon Roy. But the Blazers would not go quietly. With 2:04 left, LaMarcus Aldridge dunked for a 101-98 blazer lead, and it looked bleak when Kidd missed a triple. So the defense arose, got a stop and Nachbar nailed a 3-pointer at 1:04.
Then came the play of the game.
Roy missed a jumper, Nachbar rebounded and fed Kidd. Everyone in the building thought a timeout was being called.
Everyone except Kidd, who raced the length of the floor and scored, gaining a foul on the play.
“Coach was calling for a timeout and I was just trying to get the ball up,” Kidd said. “Then I saw everyone walking toward the bench.”
So he went toward the basket, scored the three-point play for the 104-101 lead. He wasn’t done. After a Portland turnover, Nachbar missed with 08.9 seconds left. Guess who rebounded? Kidd, who was fouled and made two free throws, to secure the win.
“We needed this. I mean needed this,” Jefferson said. “It was soooo depressing around here. I mean we’re in the Northwest and it’s rainy dreary. I swear, if we had lost this and then in Seattle, if we didn’t get one of these, someone was going off a bridge.”
Nets 106 Blazers 101