Phoenix at New York (7:30 p.m. EST). The Suns face the Knicks for the first time since the blockbuster trade that sent Stephon Marbury to New York.

STAR

Thursday

Jason Kidd, Nets, scored 33 points, 20 in the first half, to help New Jersey beat Orlando 89-79.

BIG QUARTER

Portland outscored Atlanta 29-15 in the third quarter Thursday night in a 93-85 win. Rasheed Wallace had 11 of his 20 points during that period, and Damon Stoudamire had eight of his 13 assists.

IN A ZONE

Sacramento and San Antonio put on an impressive long-range shooting display Thursday night in a 96-91 win. The Kings went 9-for-14 on 3-pointers, and the Spurs shot 7-for-11.

STRONG IN DEFEAT

Tim Duncan scored 35 points and had 18 rebounds in San Antonio's 96-91 loss to Sacramento on Thursday night.

SNAPPED

San Antonio lost to Sacramento 96-91 on Thursday night. The loss ended the Spurs' league-longest streak of 33 straight months with a winning record. They are 7-9 in January with one game left in the month.

SPEAKING

``That's cool. Where he's from there are 2 trillion people.'' _ Los Angeles' Shaquille O'Neal after being beaten out for the second straight year by Houston's Yao Ming in All-Star voting. The Chinese center, who edged O'Neal by less than 32,000 votes, actually had the advantage in paper ballots available in the United States and Canada. O'Neal drew more electronic votes from fans around the world.