Carter leads Nets to second straight win over Heat
LONDON (Reuters) - Vince Carter led the New Jersey Nets to a 94-92 win over the Miami Heat in an exhibition game in London on Sunday.
Eight-times NBA All-Star Carter scored 19 points in front of a sell-out crowd just three days after tweaking his hamstring during a game in Paris, the first in the NBA's Europe Live 2008 tour.
"Obviously, winning the game is great (but) it's all about performance for us," Carter told reporters.
The Nets opened the first quarter with a 19-6 run but the Heat clawed back, narrowing the gap to 50-47 by halftime.
The game stayed close through the second half, Miami's Marcus Banks hitting a 3-pointer with 3.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter to bring the Heat within one point at 93-92.
But Miami was unable to hang on, turning the ball over after Carter missed his second free throw with a little over a second left on the clock.
Banks and Dwayne Wade led Miami with 19 and 18 points respectively, while rookie Michael Beasley, selected second overall in the 2008 draft, finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
New Jersey's Yi Jianlian, a 7-foot forward from China, scored 17 points.
NBA Commissioner David Stern announced before the game that the league was planning to build at least a dozen "NBA-style" arenas in China.
The four-game European tour also features the Washington Wizards taking on the New Orleans Hornets in Berlin on October 14 and in Barcelona on October 17.
(Reporting by Michael Szabo; Editing by Ed Osmond)
