SACRAMENTO – Jason Kidd gets a triple-double for the second straight game and the 40th time in his career. Kenyon Martin scores 20 points, Keith Van Horn gets 19. The Nets outrebound their opponents and hold them to just one field goal in the final 6:00. The Nets are supposed to win that game.

But they’re also supposed to play for 48 minutes.

Trying to atone for playing the first half as if their shoelaces were tied together on defense, the Nets last night kept charging and coming back and rallying and doing everything but grabbing the lead.

And they never got that lead, although they came as close as you can get before succumbing to Sacramento, 98-97, as the Kings (still without Chris Webber) remained unbeaten at home in seven tries – but only after a Kidd 3-point try to tie at :02 carried long.

“The positive thing is we never quit,” said Net coach Byron Scott, who bemoaned the Kings’ 37 free-throw attempts to 16 for his Nets.

“I thought in the first half, we were a little soft defensively. I refuse to think we were intimidated by any means. We just didn’t play as hard as we did in the second half. But we battled back and were right there.”

And the Nets (9-4), who need a victory at Golden State tonight for a winning record (3-2) on this five-game trip, did it at both ends in the fourth quarter.

They came within a whisper of forcing their third overtime in four games. But Kidd, who seconds later had hit a 3-pointer, came up long on a hurried and staunchly defended (by Bobby Jackson) trifecta hurl.

“They’re not going to give a wide-open look,” said Kidd (16 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds). “I tried to get him off his feet but he didn’t go for it. It was on line just a little strong.”

Hey, they didn’t phone in the result.

“Give them credit. I thought we had them put away when we had that 14-point lead,” said Kings coach Rick Adelman. “They came back.”

From 14 down midway in the fourth and got right back in it when they embarked on an 11-0 run after one of the most frustrating plays of the game.

King center Vlade Divac (18 points, 19 rebounds) tried to find Doug Christie at the foul line. The ball went right through Christie’s hands – straight to Hedo Turkoglu, who nailed a 3-pointer.

Similar scenarios haunted the Nets all game. But after that shot, the Kings (10-3) did not get another field goal until Divac scored inside at 2:19. And that basket was a killer, too – it drew the sixth and final foul on 20-point scorer Kenyon Martin.

“When you come right down to it, they made big shots and we missed some key shots,” said Keith Van Horn (19 points, 10 rebounds). “Take the positives from this, but look at why you lose.

“We didn’t come out with the fire that we should have. They were really pushing the ball and were aggressive and we didn’t match their intensity.”

And the Nets didn’t find anybody to cool Peja Stojakovic early. Averaging 23.5 going in, Stojakovic added 29 points to his resume, 16 in the first half. They started with Martin covering him, moved to Lucious Harris and definitely missed rookie defensive specialist Richard Jefferson, who sat with a sprained knee.

Despite all the negatives, the Nets were right there, largely through the play of Kidd, Van Horn and Martin in the fourth quarter.