EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, March 15 (Ticker) -- Things are back to normal in New Jersey. Jason Kidd had a triple-double, Kenyon Martin had a flagrant foul and the Nets won at home.

Kidd collected his seventh triple-double of the season with 11 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds, leading the Nets to a 97-78 victory over the Miami Heat.

The Nets came in having lost five of six games, a slump that reduced their Atlantic Division lead over the Boston Celtics to three games. But Kidd thoroughly outplayed Rod Strickland and Anthony Carter and got New Jersey back on track.

"We knew it wasn't going to be an easy ride all season," Kidd said. "I think tonight we were all on the same page and we all came out with the same amount of energy. We knew it was going to be a physical game. We learned from the Boston game that it's now a playoff atmosphere, no matter who we play."

NBA TV highlights from Heat-Nets: 56k | 300k Jason Kidd's triple-double was the 45th of his career. Noren Trotman NBAE/Getty Images

Martin, who already is over the flagrant foul limit, elbowed Heat swingman Jim Jackson in the throat in the second quarter. It was ruled a flagrant-1 penalty, which means Martin must sit out New Jersey's game at Memphis on Sunday.

"I didn't do anything," Martin protested. "He was grabbing me. I was trying get my arm back. Look at my eye. I got elbowed in my throat, but they don't call anything. I was trying to stay focused, but it was hard. I didn't do anything. I could see if I did it like the last one I did against Chicago. I didn't do anything."

"I didn't think it was flagrant," Nets coach Byron Scott said. "Jimmy Jackson is holding and holding him and we were hollering at the officials at the other end. They got guys throwing elbows. I told them that they were going to let this game get out of hand, and that is what happened."

Late in the fourth quarter, Nets forward Aaron Williams shoved Heat center Alonzo Mourning as the two went for a rebound. Mourning was called for a sixth foul, then went at Williams before being restrained. He was ejected and left to a chorus of boos, waving his arms and asking for more.

"We just got tangled up," Mourning said. "It was a situation where I thought that some of the calls were questionable. I was on the bench because of those calls. When I got back into the game, I thought privileges were being taken to the point where I was getting pounded. I'm human. I just reacted in a way that I shouldn't have. I regret my actions. That's not me. It used to be me and an unfortunate incident happened."

"It was just the heat of the moment," Williams said. "We went after the rebound really hard. He threw his arm back and hit me in the face and that's when I gave him a little shove."

Heat coach Pat Riley said Mourning has been treated that way by opponents all season.

"He's a lot like Shaq. He gets pounded on and pounded on," Riley said. "Three guys hit him at the same time when he went up for a layup. After a while, you just get tired of it. I think that's what happened there."

Martin also got involved in that tiff, which Mourning wasn't too happy about.

"He comes over laughing and taunting and giggling about the whole situation," Mourning said. "This guy hasn't even played a whole season in the league yet. I've been in the league 10 years and you're gonna come over and taunt me after an incident like that? And throwing elbows -- flagrant elbows -- at my teammates? After a while, a line has to be drawn. It's totally uncalled for."

Keith Van Horn scored 28 points for the Nets (41-24), who had all five starters in double figures and improved to 26-6 at home.

"Hopefully this is the type of game that can catapult us to playing this way every night," Scott said. "If we can continue to play this way, especially on the defensive end, we are going to be pretty good when all is said and done." Jackson scored 17 points and Mourning added 14 for the Heat, who never led after the first basket and had a four-game road winning streak snapped.

"First and foremost, we got our (butt) kicked out there tonight," Mourning said. "Right from the beginning, they outplayed us in every facet of the game. We were basically playing catch-up from there on out."

The Nets began the game with a 23-10 burst. Van Horn scored eight points, Kerry Kittles added seven and Kidd handed out four assists.

Right before Martin's flagrant foul, Kidd found Van Horn for a reverse layup and a 44-26 lead with 3:39 left in the second quarter.

The Heat closed to 51-37 at halftime, 69-59 after three quarters and 69-63 on a dunk by Vladimir Stepania with 10:21 to play. But roookie Jason Collins had a layup and two free throws to rebuild the lead to double digits and start a 10-4 surge. Miami got no closer than 10 points thereafter.

"The starters were just not ready to play at the level that they had to play at in the beginning," Riley said. "We got back into the game at six points and I brought the starters back in. They just didn't have it tonight. They didn't play well at all and didn't execute."

Martin scored 14 points and Kittles and Williams added 10 apiece for the Nets, who shot 50 percent (36-of-72) from the field and held a 47-34 rebounding edge.

The Heat shot under 35 percent (28-of-81). The prime culprit was guard Eddie Jones, who was 1-of-13, scoring three points.

"He was off tonight. He was really off," Riley said. "We can't win with him being 1-for-13. We are on the bubble here."