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Nets aim for third straight victory

Jan 19, 2007 - 3:33 PM New Jersey (18-20) at New York (17-23) 7:30 pm EST

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The New Jersey Nets have been on a roll lately, and they hope to keep it going when they visit the New York Knicks on Friday.

The Nets, who are tied for first place in the Atlantic Division with the Toronto Raptors, look to put some space between themselves and the third-place Knicks, who they hold a two-game lead over.

The game against New York starts a stretch where the Nets play six of their next seven away from home.

New Jersey earned its second straight win with a 95-92 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday. Vince Carter, who is averaging 25.2 points per game, led the Nets with 26 points while Jason Kidd finished with 17 points.

After scoring only 18 points in an 86-83 win over the Chicago Bulls on January 11, Carter has perked up offensively, averaging 27.0 points in his last three games.

The Knicks, who have lost two of their last three, try to rebound from a 99-98 loss to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. Quentin Richardson, who is averaging 14.1 points per game, had a monster night in netting 35 points.

Richardson sank 56 percent (14-of-25) of his shots from the floor and also sank 58 percent (7-of-12) of his attempts from 3-point range in 41-plus minutes of action.

In his previous game, Richardson only scored seven points in 33 minutes.