Net coach Byron Scott looked at the stat sheet and saw some impressive numbers for Stephon Marbury: 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

And it was only halftime.

There hasn’t been much that Marbury has failed to ac- complish on a basketball court, but last night another barrier fell. With All-Star game selections upcoming, Marbury fortified his bid for an Eastern Conference berth with the first triple-double of his NBA career as he led the Nets to a 123-103 Meadowlands rout of the Bulls with 33 points, a season-high 12 assists and career-high 11 rebounds.

“The numbers speak for themselves – I don’t think I have to campaign for Steph,” Scott said of Marbury’s attempt to land his first All-Star selection. “He’s carried us pretty much all season. … Steph made it look easy tonight.”

Or as Bulls coach Tim Floyd said, “He had total control of the basketball game.”

But it really wasn’t all Marbury for the Nets, who received 31 points from Keith Van Horn, the other member of their one-two combo who has been clicking more often than not lately.

Aaron Williams, starting for the flu-riddled Kenyon Martin, had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Johnny Newman notched 16 points off the bench and starter Lucious Harris added 14.

“Winning the game was the best thing for me,” said Marbury, who racked up enough points in the first quarter (13) for his milestone and later grabbed his 10th rebound off a Ron Mercer misfire with 8:38 left in the game, shortly before he fed a Van Horn finger roll score with 7:42 to go.

“Getting a triple-double is not something that comes around every day,” said Marbury, who achieved his first triple double in his 309th regular-season NBA game – and actually his first triple-double since high school.

“They [rebounds] just came to me,” Marbury said. “They were there and I got them. The assists that’s pretty much normal. The rebounds, that was astonishing.”

It was a landmark night of sorts for the Nets, who saw their first triple-double since Kendall Gill scored 15 points, came away with 11 steals and had 10 rebounds on April 3, 1999 against Miami. In addition to their third victory in four starts, it marked the first time the Nets won the second game in a back-to-back set in nine tries this season.

They were coming off a 97-86 loss in Philadelphia on Friday when Scott questioned their toughness – again.

Last night, they were more than tough enough against a team that had roughed them up in Chicago on New Year’s Eve. The Nets scored at will, it seemed, and overcame Elton Brand’s 28-point, 10-rebound performance, in part, with a 43-30 superiority on the boards. So the Nets reached the halfway point of the season at 14-27, three games behind last year’s pace. But they’re better off than the Bulls (6-34).

“We’re scoring points but we’re not playing any defense,” Brand sighed.

But when scoring mattered most, it was the Nets who responded. After Brand led one last charge, the Bulls, who had trailed by as many as 14, were back within 91-85 with 9:15 to go. So the Nets responded with a 10-4 run, started by Newman with a reverse lay-in and fostered by Van Horn with a three-point play, a drive and a 3-point shot, Marbury assisting the latter two scores.

“He played unbelievable,” Van Horn, a recipient of seven Marbury assists, said of his point guard. “For him to go out and get 12 rebounds as a point guard is great. He really helped us out on the boards tonight. He did a great job of distributing the ball, and he knocked down a lot of shots as well.”

And knocking down shots is not something that has come naturally to these two teams, the season-long bottom-dwellers in field-goal percentage. You wouldn’t have known it last night, though, as the Nets banged in 48-of-83 (.578) and the Bulls were 42-of-78 (.538). Still, the Nets are last in the league at .416 with the Bulls just ahead at .420.

But all those stats paled to Marbury last night. He passed, he scored, he rebounded. And most important, he won.

“I’ve flirted with a triple-double before – I’ve had nine rebounds,” Marbury said. “But like I said, just winning the game was the big thing for me.”