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By Joe Rizzo
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- It took them almost10 years, but the Los Angeles Clippers finally won again inNew Jersey - thanks to some horrendous shooting by the Nets.
Chris Kaman scored 18 points and had 14 rebounds to lead theClippers to a 91-82 victory over the Nets, their first at theMeadowlands since January 15, 1998.
Tim Thomas added 18 points for the Clippers, who had lost eightstraight in the Meadowlands but broke through thanks in part to15 consecutive misses by New Jersey in the fourth quarter.
"That's good to know," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "Takeanother one off the books."
"I could not believe it," said the Clippers' Corey Maggette, whoscored 11 of his 13 points from the foul line and added 10rebounds. "They had a lot of ins and outs."
Los Angeles has won consecutive road games for the second timethis season and improved to 4-5 away from home despite missingElton Brand and Shaun Livingston for the entire campaign and SamCassell for a seventh straight contest.
The Clippers lost starting guard Quinton Ross to what Dunleavysaid appeared to be a bruised tailbone with 7:56 left in thethird quarter. Ross leaped in the lane for a rebound, bumpedinto Vince Carter and fell directly on his back. He eventuallywent to the locker room under his own power but did not return.
"It's always tough for us," Dunleavy said. "We still have acouple of guys struggling. We've stayed in a lot of games. Thesecond half, we got a lot better defensively. Because of that,we were able to keep them down. We did a much better jobdefensively in the second half."
The Clippers shot 45 percent (33-of-74) from the floor inwinning for the second time in their last 10 games, while theNets shot 32 percent (26-of-81) from the field, including5-of-25 in the fourth.
Jason Kidd had his second straight triple-double and the 93rd ofhis career for the Nets, who lost their fourth straight gameoverall and their third in a row at the Izod Center. Kiddfinished with 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, getting hisfinal two points on what turned out to be a meaningless layupwith 28 seconds left.
"I'm not laughing at that fourth quarter," said Kidd, who didnot commit a turnover. "There are no answers, but I think myteammates tried. When the ball is on the rim and not going in,there is nothing you can do. Fits have already been thrown, sofor us, we're trying to find a way. We have to find anythingthat will get us going in the right direction."
"We got off to a good start," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said."We didn't convert free throws. Then, all of a sudden, I thinkwe stopped trusting each other a little bit. Did we miss openshots? Yes. But we didn't get enough open shots, we didn'tshow enough trust out there and that has to be a trademark ofthis team."
Richard Jefferson led New Jersey with 21 points, but he andVince Carter combined to shoot 11-of-38 as the Nets extendedtheir streak to 10 games in which they trailed by double digitsat home.
"Maybe tonight there was a lack of trust," Jefferson said. "Butwe struggled all night. Tonight that might have been theissue. Two nights ago it might have been a different issue. Aweek ago it might have been a different issue. I think thatthere are a lot of issues."
"We just have to find a way," Carter said. "It's tough, it'sfrustrating. We're a better team than that."
Dan Dickau's 24-footer with 7:59 left in the fourth quarter gavethe Clippers a 76-68 edge. He hit a foul-line jumper for an81-74 edge with 3:06 left and put away the game with a pair offree throws that pushed the edge to nine with 77 seconds toplay.
Dickau finished with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 18 minutesoff the bench, and Ruben Patterson added nine points and fiveboards for the second unit.
"We've been struggling coming out of the third quarter, playinga little flat," Kaman said. "We did a good job gettingdeflections and hands on the ball. Everybody did good tonight.We're shy one of the best players (Brand) in the league, and 25points and 10 boards is hard to make up."
Thomas' 19-footer with 4:51 remaining in the third gave LosAngeles the lead for good, 58-57, and was sandwiched between alayup and three-point play by Patterson.
"Ruben came in and gave us some energy," Dunleavy said. "Dancame in and made some big shots for us in the second half. Theystretched their defense. They were coming hard at Chris everytime, double teams and triple teams to him. There were someshots on the board for the other guys."
Josh Boone set a career high with 14 rebounds and added seven<div class="pre">points, and Malik Allen scored a season-high 14 all in the</div>first half - for New Jersey.
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- It took them almost10 years, but the Los Angeles Clippers finally won again inNew Jersey - thanks to some horrendous shooting by the Nets.
Chris Kaman scored 18 points and had 14 rebounds to lead theClippers to a 91-82 victory over the Nets, their first at theMeadowlands since January 15, 1998.
Tim Thomas added 18 points for the Clippers, who had lost eightstraight in the Meadowlands but broke through thanks in part to15 consecutive misses by New Jersey in the fourth quarter.
"That's good to know," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "Takeanother one off the books."
"I could not believe it," said the Clippers' Corey Maggette, whoscored 11 of his 13 points from the foul line and added 10rebounds. "They had a lot of ins and outs."
Los Angeles has won consecutive road games for the second timethis season and improved to 4-5 away from home despite missingElton Brand and Shaun Livingston for the entire campaign and SamCassell for a seventh straight contest.
The Clippers lost starting guard Quinton Ross to what Dunleavysaid appeared to be a bruised tailbone with 7:56 left in thethird quarter. Ross leaped in the lane for a rebound, bumpedinto Vince Carter and fell directly on his back. He eventuallywent to the locker room under his own power but did not return.
"It's always tough for us," Dunleavy said. "We still have acouple of guys struggling. We've stayed in a lot of games. Thesecond half, we got a lot better defensively. Because of that,we were able to keep them down. We did a much better jobdefensively in the second half."
The Clippers shot 45 percent (33-of-74) from the floor inwinning for the second time in their last 10 games, while theNets shot 32 percent (26-of-81) from the field, including5-of-25 in the fourth.
Jason Kidd had his second straight triple-double and the 93rd ofhis career for the Nets, who lost their fourth straight gameoverall and their third in a row at the Izod Center. Kiddfinished with 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, getting hisfinal two points on what turned out to be a meaningless layupwith 28 seconds left.
"I'm not laughing at that fourth quarter," said Kidd, who didnot commit a turnover. "There are no answers, but I think myteammates tried. When the ball is on the rim and not going in,there is nothing you can do. Fits have already been thrown, sofor us, we're trying to find a way. We have to find anythingthat will get us going in the right direction."
"We got off to a good start," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said."We didn't convert free throws. Then, all of a sudden, I thinkwe stopped trusting each other a little bit. Did we miss openshots? Yes. But we didn't get enough open shots, we didn'tshow enough trust out there and that has to be a trademark ofthis team."
Richard Jefferson led New Jersey with 21 points, but he andVince Carter combined to shoot 11-of-38 as the Nets extendedtheir streak to 10 games in which they trailed by double digitsat home.
"Maybe tonight there was a lack of trust," Jefferson said. "Butwe struggled all night. Tonight that might have been theissue. Two nights ago it might have been a different issue. Aweek ago it might have been a different issue. I think thatthere are a lot of issues."
"We just have to find a way," Carter said. "It's tough, it'sfrustrating. We're a better team than that."
Dan Dickau's 24-footer with 7:59 left in the fourth quarter gavethe Clippers a 76-68 edge. He hit a foul-line jumper for an81-74 edge with 3:06 left and put away the game with a pair offree throws that pushed the edge to nine with 77 seconds toplay.
Dickau finished with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 18 minutesoff the bench, and Ruben Patterson added nine points and fiveboards for the second unit.
"We've been struggling coming out of the third quarter, playinga little flat," Kaman said. "We did a good job gettingdeflections and hands on the ball. Everybody did good tonight.We're shy one of the best players (Brand) in the league, and 25points and 10 boards is hard to make up."
Thomas' 19-footer with 4:51 remaining in the third gave LosAngeles the lead for good, 58-57, and was sandwiched between alayup and three-point play by Patterson.
"Ruben came in and gave us some energy," Dunleavy said. "Dancame in and made some big shots for us in the second half. Theystretched their defense. They were coming hard at Chris everytime, double teams and triple teams to him. There were someshots on the board for the other guys."
Josh Boone set a career high with 14 rebounds and added seven<div class="pre">points, and Malik Allen scored a season-high 14 all in the</div>first half - for New Jersey.
