BOSTON – Vince Carter landed awkwardly, grimaced, and leaned on a table near the Celtics’ bench. The game wasn’t even five minutes old and already the Nets’ playoff chances seemed to sink as he limped to the locker room. He knew better.

Less than three minutes after missing a layup and being kneed in the left Achilles’ tendon by Antoine Walker, Carter returned to help the Nets earn the NBA’s last playoff berth with a 102-93 win over Boston last night.

“I just wanted to add some drama,” he joked, a smile in place of the look of pain. “I knew I didn’t do anything bad. I was just uncomfortable.”

He was very comfortable with his shooting in the second half, when he scored 24 of his 37 points. He even outscored the Celtics 15-8 in the third quarter and sparked the Nets’ comeback from a 19-point, second-quarter deficit for the victory that gave them the no. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.

New Jersey and Cleveland, which beat Toronto, both finished at 42-40, but the Nets held the tiebreaker edge.

“It’s a great feeling. We accomplished a lot,” said Carter, obtained from Toronto on December 17. “My goal was just to come out and lend a helping hand.”

He did much more than that. The Nets were 32-24 with him and 10-16 without him. He led them in scoring in 16 of their last 19 games, averaging 32.5 points in those 16 contests.

“Vince has carried us since he’s been here,” New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said. “Vince, time after time after time, delivers.”

The Nets will play at top-seeded Miami on Sunday. The Celtics, who had already clinched the no. 3 seed, will open their first-round series at home Saturday night against Indiana.

The Nets will participate after winning a game that went the way their season did – a shaky start and a strong finish.

“This game sums up our whole season for us,” said Jason Kidd, who spent the first month of the season on the injured list. “We were down but didn’t fold the tent.”

The Nets had a huge 43-17 advantage in free throw attempts but needed one final rally after the Celtics used an 8-0 run to close to 96-93 with 1:16 left. The Nets scored the final six points, all on free throws, then shook hands with Boston players and walked calmly off the court.

New Jersey started the season with a 2-11 record but finished with a 15-4 surge. Still, the Nets went into the final day of the regular season competing with Cleveland for the last playoff spot.

As he did the previous night against the Cavaliers, Celtics coach Doc Rivers did not use his best two players, Pierce and Walker, in the fourth quarter. Two other starters who played against Cleveland sat out against New Jersey – Gary Payton with lower back spasms and Raef LaFrentz with a groin injury.

The Nets got 19 points from Kidd and 18 from Nenad Krstic. Rookie Delonte West scored 15 for Boston.

The Nets missed 10 of their first 11 shots and got an early scare when Carter hobbled off the court with 7:29 left in the first quarter. He didn’t help for much of the rest of a half in which the Celtics opened their biggest lead, 49-30, on Pierce’s 3-pointer 5:07 before intermission.

The Nets cut that to 58-47 at halftime.

“Our halftime was kind of silent,” Brian Scalabrine said. “Coach got on us and explained the situation. He basically said that we had 24 minutes for our life.”

The Nets scored the first nine points of the third quarter, cutting the lead to 58-56 on Carter’s 3-pointer. Then they used an 8-0 spurt to go ahead 69-64 with 4:12 left in the third quarter. Carter’s nine-foot turnaround broke a 64-64 tie and Scalabrine followed with a 3-pointer.

New Jersey extended that run to 18-2, outscored the Celtics 32-8 in the third quarter, and led 79-66.

Carter hit his last 3-pointer with 2:47 to go, then Boston made its last run – a three-point play by Al Jefferson, and baskets by West and Justin Reed. But Kidd made a free throw to end that comeback and finished the game with two more with 23 seconds remaining.