EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Jason Kidd made some extra rest pay off.
Kidd scored 11 of his 19 points in the decisive fourth quarter as the New Jersey Nets continued their dominance of the New York Knicks with an 85-80 victory.
Averaging more than 40 minutes per game, Kidd saw his minutes abate a bit in this one as coach Byron Scott opted to give rookie Zoran Planinic an increased role.
Kidd still played 36 minutes and was at his best in the fourth quarter, when he scored six straight points to turn a one-point game into an 80-73 lead with 2:17 remaining.
"When you play 40-something minutes, as much you want to compete, sometimes that can dilute things," said Kidd, who also handed out 10 assists. "When you can be around 36 to 38 minutes, that helps. Your legs are fresher, defensively and offensively."
"We had some guys get fewer minutes and that allowed us to have that energy that we normally don't have at the end of the game," Nets forward Richard Jefferson said.
Led by Kidd, the Nets beat the Knicks for the 10th time in the last 11 meetings. New Jersey has won the last six contests between the teams at Continental Airlines Arena.
"They made plays tonight," Knicks coach Don Chaney said. "What you can't forget is that this team made it to the Finals two years in a row and will probably get there again and challenge for the championship again."
In his most extensive playing time of the season, Planinic provided a boost with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting in 15 minutes.
"He played well," Scott said. "I told him he was going to get some minutes and he responded really well. He knew that he was only going to get eight or 10 minutes because Jason was not going to play 40 minutes and I think he did a heckuva job."
Allan Houston scored 31 points to pace the Knicks, who dropped their third straight game.
The Knicks used a 20-9 run over the final 6:06 of the third period to forge a 59-59 tie. New York's Clarence Weatherspoon scored the first three points of the fourth quarter, but New Jersey responded with an 11-0 run capped by two foul shots by Richard Jefferson with 6:14 left.
Kenyon Martin added 21 points and 10 rebounds and Kerry Kittles scored 15 points for the Nets, who took advantage of 23 turnovers by the Knicks in stopping a three-game home losing streak.
"We had too many turnovers," Chaney said. "I think had we cut down on the turnovers, we would've had a chance."
