EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Vince Carter got the New Jersey

Nets off to a quick start.

Carter scored 35 points and added nine assists and seven

rebounds, leading the Nets over the Los Angeles Clippers 99-85

Tuesday night for their season-high third straight victory.

"My motive every game is to come out and jump-start our team

right away at the start of the game," Carter said. "My job is to

do something to get us going. Make a play, a basket, whatever it

takes to get us going. The way we've been playing lately, it's

important to get out to a good start and keep it going from

there."

Richard Jefferson scored 20 points and Nenad Krstic had 17 for

Nets (12-12), who returned to .500 for the first time since they

were 7-7 after beating Denver on Nov. 28.

"It's nice to get everyone playing on the same level, but we

still have a long way to go," Jefferson said. "We're not out of

the woods yet. If a three-game win streak is our peak, then we're

in trouble. We're not going to settle for this. We have to keep

after it."

Carter had 20 points in the first half and is averaging 30.4

during the winning streak.

"Vince played at a very high level," Nets coach Lawrence Frank

said. "Vince is an elite player. He is a great table-setter. He

was extremely aggressive tonight and has been really aggressive

during this last stretch of play."

Elton Brand had 21 points and 13 rebounds for his 16th

double-double of the season. Cuttino Mobley added 15 points for the

Clippers, who have lost four of five.

"Vince was a really tough matchup for us tonight," Brand said.

"He was hitting his shots and that was it. It's frustrating,

because we were turning the ball over and they got layup after

layup, easy shot after easy shot."

The Nets shot 67 percent (12-of-18) in the first quarter, with

Carter scoring nine points to help New Jersey take a 26-23 lead.

Jefferson connected on two consecutive driving layups off steals

and assists by Clifford Robinson within a span of 27 seconds,

giving the Nets their largest lead of the first half at 57-42 with

36 seconds left before halftime.

Carter was 11-for-22 from the floor and 12-of-14 from the foul

line.

"Vince Carter is such a great player that we need two guys to

try to stop him," former Nets player Sam Cassell said. "When we

got there to try to stop him, we got there too late and he either

made the shot or we fouled him."

Brand scored on a follow of Cassell's miss in the final second,

cutting the Nets' lead to 57-44 at the half. Brand finished the

first half with 17 points.

The Nets extended their lead to 74-56 in the third quarter

before Walter McCarty hit two long 3-pointers in the final 2:10 of

the period, including one right before the buzzer, slicing the lead

to 80-71.

McCarty hit a corner jumper with 7:12 left that cut the lead to

88-80, but that is the closest the Clippers would come. He finished

with 13 points.Game notes
With his first basket of the game, Robinson moved past

Scottie Pippen into 39th place on the NBA career scoring list with

18,942 points. Dale Ellis is next with 19,002 points. Robinson

finished the game with four points. ... The Nets shot 51 percent,

their second straight game and third this season above 50 percent.

... Cassell, who played for the Nets from 1997-99), was informed

before the game that the Nets own the Clippers' first-round draft

pick this season. "Well, sorry for them, but we're not going to be

in the lottery this year," Cassell said. "If this team doesn't

have injuries, we're not going to be a part of that." During the

game, Cassell spotted former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich sitting

on press row and screamed out his name to get Tomjanovich's

attention. Tomjanovich, the former Rockets and Lakers coach,

currently works for the Lakers as a consultant and scout.