ORLANDO, Fla. – Vince Carter scored 32 points and Richard Jefferson added 18 to lead the Nets over the Orlando Magic 96-85 last night.

It was New Jersey’s fourth straight win and Orlando’s third straight loss. New Jersey is now over .500 (13-12) with the victory, its first on a three-game road trip.

Jameer Nelson scored seven points in a 13-2 Magic run that gave them a 77-76 lead with 8:25 left in the fourth quarter. But Carter made two free throws and threw down an alley-oop from Jason Kidd that gave the Nets an 81-77 lead. The Magic wouldn’t seriously threaten with 6:28 left.

Orlando shot just 65.5% from the free-throw line, compared with 85.2% for the Nets.

Carter also had a spectacular reverse dunk off an alley-oop from Kidd in the first quarter. But Carter wasn’t all flash: He made all 14 of his free throw attempts despite shooting just 9-of-21 from the floor.

“My motive every game is to come out and jump-start our team right away at the start of the game,” Carter said before tip off. “My job is to do something to get us going. Make a play, a basket, whatever it takes to get us going. The way we’ve been playing lately, it’s important to get out to a good start and keep it going from there.”

Grant Hill, in his fourth game back from surgery October 31, had 16 points, as did Steve Francis. Dwight Howard added 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Magic.

Kidd finished with nine points, six assists and six rebounds.

The Magic hung around in the third quarter on jumpers from Hill, but trailed most of the period by five. After scoring just two points in the first half, Hill scored 10 of Orlando’s 27 in the third.

Nelson’s 3-pointer just before the buzzer drew Orlando within seven at the end of the third.

New Jersey led 46-40 at the half. The Nets built the lead as Carter had 12 points, despite missing much of the half with two fouls. When he wasn’t scoring, Carter was driving the basket to open up the perimeter, helping set up a Jefferson threepointer from the corner just before halftime.

Nets forward Jason Collins left in the first quarter with a sore right ankle and did not return.

Lamond Murray scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench for the Nets, while Marc Jackson added nine points and four boards in 14 minutes. New guard Jeff McInnis failed to score in four minutes.

The Magic have lost eight of the last 10 matchups against New Jersey in Orlando. They have won only five games at home this season.