Carter’s season-high 41 points propel New Jersey past Pistons

The New Jersey Nets looked at their matinee against Detroit as a measuring stick game, and Vince Carter made sure they stood tall against the defending NBA champions.

Carter had his best game since joining the Nets, scoring 41 points and leading a second-half surge in a 107-85 victory Saturday at East Rutherford, N.J., that snapped the Pistons’ five-game winning streak.

Carter, who finished 10 points shy of his career high, scored 20 of his points during a 29-9 run bridging the third and fourth quarters that turned a 63-61 edge into a 92-70 lead.

“This was the bar that we had to see how good we are against. We wanted to see where we are as a team, and that was a great effort,” Carter said.

Carter’s points were a season high, surpassing the 33 he scored Jan. 19 in a victory over Milwaukee that came 33 days after the Nets acquired him from Toronto.

Jason Kidd added 12 points and 14 assists, surpassing Kenny Anderson as the franchise leader in career assists with 2,364. Kidd also surpassed Bob Cousy (6,955) for 12th place on the NBA’s all-time assists list.

Heat 108, Bulls 97: At Miami, Shaquille O’Neal had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Dwyane Wade scored 25 points to lead Miami to a victory over Chicago, the Heat’s fifth victory in their last six games.

Reserve Michael Doleac added a season-high 16 points, and the Heat shot 49.4 percent in improving their home record to 19-5.

Pacers 84, Hawks 79: At Atlanta, Jermaine O’Neal scored 38 points to lead Indiana over Atlanta for its second straight victory after a six-game losing streak.

Wizards 112, Bucks 94: At Washington, a night after watching his team blow a big lead when he was ejected, Gilbert Arenas had 31 points, nine assists and six rebounds against Milwaukee to help Washington snap a four-game losing streak.

Cavaliers 101, Magic 92: At Cleveland, LeBron James had 30 points and nine assists, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas made two big baskets in the final 1:43 for Cleveland to defeat Orlando.

James had 18 points, six assists and four rebounds in the second half.

Nuggets 107, Warriors 91: At Denver, Kenyon Martin had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Denver limited Jason Richardson (42 points in a previous game against Denver) to 13 points to top Golden State.

Carmelo Anthony added 18 points to help the Nuggets improve to 4-1 under new coach George Karl.

Suns 114, Knicks 106: Amare Stoudemire had 32 points and 15 rebounds, and Steve Nash added 26 points and 14 assists as Phoenix defeated visiting New York.

Jazz 108, Hornets 92: At Salt Lake City, Carlos Boozer scored 18 points, and Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring each had 17 to help Utah defeat New Orleans and snap a three-game losing streak.

Trail Blazers 114, Kings 108: At Portland, Damon Stoudamire hit a long jumper and a driving layup in the final 2 minutes to help Portland hold off Sacramento.