News / Sports
NBA Scores: Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson Lead Nets Past Raptors in Game One
Jason Kidd finished with 8 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists while Richard Jefferson added 28 points as the New Jersey Nets beat the Toronto Raptors 96-91 in their first game of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Jefferson scored 11 in the opening quarter as the Nets took a 23-22 lead into the second period. New Jersey then outscored the Raptors 19-9 in the first six minutes of the second quarter to build their lead to eleven. Toronto was able to trim it down to three before the Nets scored the last seven points of the half to head into the break with a 51-41 advantage.
Toronto opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run to pull within 51-50 but the Nets then rallied for eight straight to move in front by nine. When Marcus Williams hit a 21-foot jumper with four seconds on the clock the Nets had boosted their lead to 15 but Chris Bosh hit a pair of free-throws to close the quarter out to make the score 78-65.
It was the Raptors who rallied in the fourth as they took advantage of an ice cold Nets team who hit just one shot from the field in the first nine minutes of the quarter. After Bosh sank one of two from the line with 2:58 remaining the score was 84-83 and the Raptors had the momentum but Bostjan Nachbar drilled a three-pointer to start a 6-0 spurt for the Nets to push the lead back to seven with 1:49 on the clock.
Anthony Carter got the Raptors to within three with 12 seconds left but Vince Carter hit one of two from the line to make it a two possession game and that was it for Toronto.
The two teams will meet again on Tuesday for game two in the best of seven series.
