PHOENIX (Ticker) -- For one night, the Phoenix Suns got the better of the Jason Kidd-Stephon Marbury trade.

Marbury scored 20 points and the Suns escaped with an 89-87 victory over Kidd's New Jersey Nets when Keith Van Horn missed a pair of free throws in the final second.

During the offseason, the Suns dealt Kidd to the Nets for Marbury in a swap of All-Star guards. The trade has been one-sided, with the Suns in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1988 and the perennial doormat Nets rocketing to the top of the Eastern Conference.

"I wasn't thinking about (the matchup)," Marbury said. "All you can do is play basketball. All that media hype is going to be there."

NBA TV highlights from Nets-Suns: 56k | 300k After scoring just six points in the first half, Marbury exploded for 10 in the third quarter. Barry Gossage NBAE/Getty Images

"(It was a) great game," Kidd said. "The big thing for me was to not come out and do anything out of the ordinary. I just played the game."

In the first meeting between the teams on December 5, Kidd scored six points, handed out 13 assists and pulled down nine rebounds in a 106-87 victory at New Jersey.

Phoenix trailed 84-82 with 3:04 to play before Marbury tied it with an 18-footer that triggered a 7-3 surge to close the game.

"In the second half, we made a conscious effort not to let them get quick, easy baskets like they did in the first half," Marbury said.

Kidd, who was booed by the America West Arena crowd throughout most of the game, scored 10 points on just 4-of-18 shooting and was held scoreless in the final quarter.

"I wasn't surprised at all," Kidd said of the reaction. "They're trying to help their team win the ballgame. It didn't bother me at all. I am out there having fun. Hopefully, the fans got their money's worth."

The eight-year veteran also had some harsh words for Phoenix chairman Jerry Colangelo and his son Bryan, the president and general manager who orchestrated the trade.

"I don't work for the Colangelos," Kidd said. "If I did, I'd probably quit."

The Nets still had a chance to tie after Suns guard Dan Majerle missed 3-of-4 free throws in the waning seconds, then fouled Van Horn with 0.4 seconds to go. But Van Horn, a 79 percent free-throw shooter, missed the first, then intentionally missed the second before time ran out.

"I was focused on the shot," Van Horn said. "I was thinking it was just me out there. I felt focused, I was ready to take the shot."

"I made a dumb foul," Majerle said. "I didn't think they had enough time. He made a good pump-fake on me. I didn't want him to shoot the three."

Phoenix has won eight straight at home against New Jersey since 1993.

Aaron Williams scored 18 points for New Jersey, which lost its fourth straight road game.

After Marbury's tying basket, Jake Tsakalidis gave the Suns their first lead since the opening quarter at 86-84 on a tip-in with 2:11 to play.

Kenyon Martin made 1-of-2 from the line 18 seconds later, pulling the Nets within one, and Majerle answered with 1-of-2 one second later.

Phoenix's Shawn Marion, who scored 24 points, hit two free throws with 46 seconds left. But Martin hit a jump shot 12 seconds later to bring the deficit back to two points.

New Jersey led 76-67 going into the fourth quarter, but Phoenix scored the first nine points, tying the game with 6:14 remaining on Marion's layup.

"We were just playing defense," Marion said. "We just made sure to limit them to one shot and once we did that, we stopped their transition offense. We just calmed ourselves down and got good shots."

"It's tough anytime you lose a game you seemingly had control of," New Jersey coach Byron Scott said. "In the fourth quarter, we had a pretty good lead but we didn't make shots and had some turnovers that were costly."

Martin, who had 17 points, scored the Nets' first basket of the quarter with 5:54 to play.

Martin returned to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension for accumulating too many flagrant fouls.

"We didn't make the play we needed to," he said. "We didn't just want to win this game for Jason. We lost yesterday, too."