Vince Carter

Carter returned to the lineup as a reserve Wednesday in Portland, playing 28 minutes and scoring 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting as the Nets snapped the streak with a 106-101 win over the Trail Blazers. Carter's absence proved difficult to overcome for a New Jersey team that has struggled to score early this season, ranking 29th in the NBA in Offensive Rating at 95.3 points per 100 possessions.

For the Nets to be amongst the NBA's worst offenses is surprising, given that last year New Jersey was right at average on offense, ranking 15th in the league in Offensive Rating. It's safe to assume the Nets will return to such a position by season's end.

What's been the difference so far? Start at the center position, where New Jersey has used four different starters so far this season (Jason Collins, expected to start tonight; Nenad Krstic, Jamaal Magloire and rookie Sean Williams). At full strength, Krstic is the unquestioned starter. The Serbian 7-footer was averaging 16.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game last year when a torn ACL ended his season after 26 games. Krstic has yet to recapture that form, shooting just 32.9% from the field thus far. It's only a matter of time, however, before Krstic gets going.

In the meantime, the Nets have struggled to replace Krstic's production. New Jersey signed Magloire as a free agent over the summer after Mikki Moore, who successfully filled in for Krstic at center over the second half of last season, left for Sacramento. Magloire has started even more slowly than Krstic, hitting just 19.2% from the field. The open position has provided an opportunity for Williams, New Jersey's first-round pick and an electrifying prospect who is averaging 2.2 blocks per game in less than 20 minutes of action and shooting 62.8% from the field. At this stage of his young career, however, Williams is too inconsistent to count on to play starters' minutes on a regular basis.

Carter's injury was exacerbated by the fact that his usual fill-in, Bostjan Nachbar, is off to a slow start of his own. Nachbar emerged as a key reserve for the Nets last season, canning 42.3% of his attempts from downtown. He's shot just 39.2% from the field and 32.7% from three-point range thus far this year, though he seems to be coming out of his slump. Over the first two games of New Jersey's road trip, Nachbar has 39 points and has hit seven threes in 15 attempts.

The last area of concern for the Nets has been backing up indispensable point guard Jason Kidd. Sophomore Marcus Williams did a solid job in that role last season, but has yet to play this year after breaking a bone in his foot before the start of training camp. New Jersey added veteran Darrell Armstrong to bolster the position, but Armstrong has missed the last four games after suffering a severe thigh contusion. That has left the backup position to journeyman Eddie Gill, who was in camp with the Nets and was re-signed by the team after Armstrong went down.

The best development from the first month of the season for the Nets has been the play of forward Richard Jefferson, averaging a team-high 24.5 points per game thus far. Jefferson topped the 20-point mark in New Jersey's first eight games of the season and has done so 10 times in the team's 12 games. He's done an especially good job of getting to the free-throw line, attempting well more than twice as many free throws (122) as the next-best player on the team (Carter, 45). His 107 makes at the charity stripe rank him second in the NBA.

The Seattle SuperSonics return to KeyArena for the first time in nearly two weeks, having gotten a useful three-day break after wrapping up their five-game road trip Monday in Memphis. The Sonics have won three in a row over New Jersey in Seattle, including a 99-87 victory a year ago Tuesday.

KEY MATCHUP
	Kidd has been one of the NBA's most versatile players throughout his career, but he's taking it to new levels this year. For the third time in his career, Kidd is averaging a double-double (10.9 points and 10.5 assists per game). He's also averaging a career-high 8.8 rebounds per game. If that holds up, it would be the most by a player averaging a point-assist double-double since Oscar Robertson's retirement. Robertson, of course, was the only NBA player to ever average a triple-double, doing so in 1961-62. Since Robertson, no one has gotten closer than Magic Johnson, who averaged 16.8 points, 10.5 assists and 8.6 rebounds per game in the 1982-83 season. All of which is to say Earl Watson has a tough defensive assignment tonight, though the Sonics have done a good job of keeping Kidd in check in recent seasons.

It was something of a surprise that, when center Nick Collison picked up his fifth foul with 5:10 left in the Sonics matchup with the Nets last Nov. 20, he was replaced with starter Johan Petro. Petro had been slumping and had played just four minutes two days earlier against Golden State, but he responded with his best stretch of the season to key the Sonics 99-87 victory. Petro had four points, two rebounds and a big block of a Carter shot in transition as the Sonics turned what was an 83-all tie into a double-digit win.

Petro wasn't the only hero down the stretch. Rashard Lewis exploited mismatches with smaller defenders to score 10 points in the fourth and assisted in maybe the biggest bucket of the period - Luke Ridnour's 3-pointer to break the tie at 83 with 4:02 to play. The much-maligned Sonics defense also came through, holding New Jersey to 28.6% shooting (4-14) in the final period with 17 turnovers.

To even be in position to come down from a four-point deficit entering the fourth quarter, the Sonics needed survive a 17-point first-quarter barrage from Carter. Carter was quiet the rest of the way, shooting 0-for-5 in the fourth and committing seven turnovers in the game, and Ray Allen's 18 first-half points helped keep the Sonics in striking distance despite shooting 36.8% in the first half. Then it was up to Petro, who had a breakout game with a large contingent of supporters from the French Navy on hand to cheer on their countryman.

Kia Surprising Stat

INJURIES

Sonics - Centers Johan Petro (strained lower back), Robert Swift (tendinitis and contusion, right knee) and Kurt Thomas (strained right hamstring) are game-time decisions. Guard Luke Ridnour (left quad tear) is out.

New Jersey - Guards Darrell Armstrong (severe contusion, right thigh) and Marcus Williams (right foot surgery) are out.

For more analysis before tonight's game, listen to the Sonics Pregame Show starting at 7:00 on KTTH 770 AM