Nets One Loss Away From NBA Infamy

SACRAMENTO -- A couple of hours before tip-off of the Nets-Kings game on Friday night at ARCO Arena, New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank was talking about "embracing challenges," "spirited shootarounds" and "breaking through."

After the Nets got beat 109-96, their 16th consecutive loss to start this dismal season, Frank was talking about "cheating the game."

Apparently, that's what 48 minutes of New Jersey Nets basketball can do to a coach. Or make that 24 minutes; Frank said his team didn't really show up in the first half. And who knows how much longer Frank will coach this team?

"We cheated the game in the first half," Frank said. "Defensively, you think about what they got on run-outs, dribble penetrations, post ups. Eight of their first 10 points were right in the paint. We called a timeout early to establish the fact that all their points were in the paint."

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The Nets, now 0-16, are one loss from equaling the worst start in NBA history. The expansion Miami Heat started the 1988-89 season 0-17 as did the Los Angeles Clippers in the lockout-shortened 1999 season.

Next up: the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

"It doesn't matter who we have from here on out," said Devin Harris, who led the Nets with 25 points but shot only 6-for-22 from the field. "We've got to come out with the same kind of intensity we came out with in the second half, no matter if it's the Lakers or the Knicks. We have to treat everybody the same and come out with a decent effort. Yeah, they are the defending champs and are a great team but they can be beaten."

Not with another first half like Friday. The Kings got up by as many as 22 points in the first half before settling in up 59-42. The Nets made a run or two in the second half but never got it below six.

"We had a pretty emotional halftime," Harris said. "Obviously, the first half is not the way we wanted to come out. Defensively we were lackadaisical and we let them get wherever they wanted to get on the court. We threw away the first 24 minutes."

And that was the stumper in the Nets' locker room afterward. How could a team that had dropped 15 in a row to start the season not play with a sense of urgency from the get-go?

"If I had an answer, that wouldn't have happened," center Brook Lopez said. "We've kind of been pressing these last few games. When you are Oh-for ... you're pressing for a win the whole time."

If they don't get one Sunday in Los Angeles, they'll have to beat the Dallas Mavericks in New Jersey on Wednesday to avoid setting a new mark for season-starting futility.

"When you're in this type of situation we look at it as a great challenge," Frank said. "You show no cracks. You deal with it honestly, yet you have to bring a positive approach every single day in terms of what you need to do to win the game."

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