Jason Kidd's 11th career triple-double in the NBA playoffs led the New Jersey Nets over Cleveland 96-85 and cut the Cavaliers' lead in the Eastern Conference semi-finals to 2-1 on Saturday.
Kidd's playoffs triple-double broke a tie with Larry Bird for second place on the career list.
Kidd, who is averaging a triple-double in this postseason, finished with 23 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds. For good measure, he even took some turns defending LeBron James, who was limited to 18 points in the lowest-scoring postseason game of his career.
Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson also scored 23 points for the Nets, who won their 10th straight home game and will try to even the series today in Game 4.
James was just 5-of-16 from the field and failed to score at least 20 points for the first time in his 20 playoff games. He added 12 assists, but looked frustrated late in the game after hitting the bottom of the rim on a reverse layup attempt.
New Jersey controlled the backboards for the first time, holding a 43-30 rebounding edge, and limited Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas to a combined 12 rebounds.
Spurs 108, Suns 101
At San Antonio, Tim Duncan had 33 points -- 13 in the fourth quarter -- and 19 rebounds to lead San Antonio over Phoenix for a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference second-round series.
Manu Ginobili also had the kind of game San Antonio needed after poor performances in Games 1 and 2. Despite a bloodied eye, he had 24 points, including 10 in less than two minutes in the third quarter.
Phoenix point guard Steve Nash was scoreless in the first half and finished with 16 points. He had 10 points in the fourth, but it wasn't enough as the Suns only got as close as 99-93 with 3:22 left.
Bruce Bowen's 3-pointer with 8 minutes left in the third was the go-ahead basket for San Antonio and gave it a 62-60 lead.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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