EAST RUTHERFORD (New Jersey), Dec 6: Jason Kidd won his duel with Stephon Marbury and Kenyon Martin’s scuffle with Rodney Rogers sparked the New Jersey Nets to a rousing 106-87 victory over the Phoenix Suns Wednesday.
During the offseason, the Nets and Suns swung a blockbuster deal in which the teams exchanged All-Star point guards. The Nets acquired Kidd, who has shown a young team how to win, and the Suns received Marbury, who has provided a scoring boost.
With the scores tied late in the second quarter, Kidd stripped Marbury of the ball and Martin pounced.
He was going in for a breakaway layup when he was fouled hard by Marbury and Rogers, both of whom tried to catch Martin before he fell into the seats.
Wednesday’s results (home team in CAPS):
BOSTON 95 Denver 80
San Antonio 120 ATLANTA 112
DETROIT 95 Seattle 91
ORLANDO 102 Chicago 74
NEW JERSEY 106 Phoenix 87
GOLDEN STATE 93 Philadelphia 87
LA LAKERS 98 Dallas 94
DETROIT: Radim Vrbata had a goal and an assist and Joe Sakic set up a pair of scores as defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado extended its season-high unbeaten streak to six games with a 4-1 rout of Detroit Wednesday.
Patrick Roy made 30 saves and All-Star defenseman Rob Blake returned from a groin injury to score his seventh goal of the season as Colorado improved to 5-0-1 in its last six games.
Wednesday’s results :
FLORIDA 2 Columbus 0
New Jersey 2 MONTREAL 1
Colorado 4 DETROIT 1
Ottawa 6 DALLAS 3
EDMONTON 3 Anaheim 2 (OT)
PHOENIX 3 St Louis 0
CHICAGO 4 Minnesota 2
—Reuters