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Harris, Carter lead Nets past Wizards

Feb 5, 2009 - 4:23 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Vince Carter couldn't quite follow up his triple-double from Tuesday, but with a little help from Devin Harris, the New Jersey Nets still managed to come out on top.

Harris scored 26 points and Carter added 20 as the Nets won their third in a row for the first time since Thanksgiving weekend with a 115-88 victory over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

Ryan Anderson collected 18 points and nine rebounds and Brook Lopez added 12 and 12 for New Jersey, which enjoyed its highest scoring output since a 121-97 win over the Dallas Mavericks on December 19.

"We don't have many of these," New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said of the winning streak.

Carter collected 15 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds on Tuesday as the Nets topped the Milwaukee Bucks, 99-85. It was the first time he had accomplished the feat since the end of the 2006-07 season.

Carter finished with five assists and a pair of rebounds on Wednesday but shot 8-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-8 from the arc as Harris filled the stat sheet with seven assists and five boards.

"Our young guys are playing very well," Carter said. "I'm not into scoring at this point in my career. It's all about winning."

One of those younger players is Anderson.

"We're a tough team to guard because we have so many options," Anderson said. "Devin causes so much attention, so does Vince, so does Brook, and that leaves me open."

Harris poured in seven points over the final 2:48 of the first half as New Jersey closed the second quarter on a 14-2 run to take a 58-53 lead at the break.

"It's been a while since I got easy shots at the basket," Harris said. "It's been a while. It was good when I finally got a night I could control the lane."

The Nets did not let up after the break, opening the third quarter with 11 straight points to spark a 24-8 run. Carter capped the spurt with a 3-pointer with 3:03 remaining and collected 10 points during the run.

"We didn't want a letdown," Harris said.

"We've been playing well for the last three games. We're improving at at a good time," said Lopez, who collected his third straight double-double. "We hit them when they were frustrated."

Nick Young scored 21 points to lead the shorthanded Wizards, who were without Caron Butler due to the flu and dressed only eight players.

"They're shorthanded," Frank said. "If you cheat the game in any way, it will come back and bite you."

The lack of available bodies seemed to catch up to Washington in the third quarter as the team missed its first five shots and went on to score only 35 points after the break.

"We held our discipline for a half," interim coach Ed Tapscott said. "We got frustrated and the discipline of our offense left us in the second half."

Antawn Jamison finished 4-of-20 from the floor for 10 points in 40 minutes.

"We were short some players," Young said. "We knew it was going to be a hard night for us, but we were trying."