Jason Kidd got the Nets back into the Eastern Conference semifinals by doing what he does best: a bit of everything.

Kidd had his 11th postseason triple-double, breaking a tie with Larry Bird for second place on the career list, and the Nets beat Cleveland, 96-85, yesterday at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., to cut the Cavaliers' lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal best-of-seven series to 2-1.

"Kidd was obviously a monster," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "You have to give him credit. He did what he's supposed to do. He stepped it up. He was aggressive. He scored for them, he got them easy looks, and last but not least the man rebounded and he was huge on that glass."

Kidd, who is averaging a triple-double in this postseason, finished with 23 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds. For good measure, he even took some turns defending LeBron James, who was limited to 18 points in the lowest-scoring postseason game of his career.

"He was terrific. His intensity, his ability to attack the paint, his will and doing it on both ends playing at such a high energy level," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "The triple-double, that is obviously such a tangible thing. He was tremendous on both ends. As a captain he set a great tone playing throughout their runs. He was obviously very, very special."

Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson also scored 23 points for the Nets, who won their 10th consecutive home game and will try to even the series tomorrow night in Game 4 before the series returns to Cleveland for Game 5 Wednesday.

James was 5 of 16 from the field and failed to score at least 20 points for the first time in his 20 playoff games. He added 12 assists, but looked frustrated late in the game after hitting the bottom of the rim on a reverse layup attempt.

Most importantly for New Jersey, the Nets controlled the backboards after the Cavaliers pummeled them in the first two games, piling up a 100-69 rebounding advantage, including 39-12 on the offensive end. This time, New Jersey held a 43-30 edge and limited Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas to a combined 12 rebounds.

New Jersey saw its 15-point lead trimmed to four early in the fourth, but scored eight consecutive points to regain control and hand the Cavaliers their first loss of this postseason. Cleveland had won 10 in a row dating to the regular season.

Kidd shot 8 of 12, including 5 of 6 on 3-pointers. He had his second triple-double of this postseason, but is still well behind Magic Johnson, who had 30 postseason triple-doubles.

"The records don't mean anything unless you win," said Kidd, averaging 14.6 points, 12.2 assists and 10.3 rebounds in nine playoff games. "It's about winning and that's the bottom line. The triple-double doesn't mean anything unless you win."

Other game

Spurs 108, Suns 101: Tim Duncan had 33 points -- 13 in the fourth quarter -- and 19 rebounds to lead San Antonio to a victory against visiting Phoenix to take a 2-1 lead in this second-round Western Conference series. Manu Ginobili also had the kind of game San Antonio needed after poor performances in Games 1 and 2. Despite a bloodied eye, he had 24 points, including 10 in less than two minutes in the third quarter.