Misery Finally Ends in Kiki's 1st Game As Coach

The Nets pushed their season-high winning streak to one game last night.

Darn, they did not gain any ground in the Atlantic on the Celtics, who also won.

Adhering Thurs interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe's call to relax, have fun and block thoughts of the worst 0-18 start in NBA history, the Nets looked like a team enjoying a fresh start as they hustled, dove, defended, responded after taking some gut punches and, above all, won.

They turned the Charlotte Bobcats into that squad with a team-oriented 97-91 victory that featured spectacular individual efforts by Courtney Lee, Brook Lopez and Devin Harris to make Vandeweghe a winner in his coaching debut.

"You know what I just got good? How hard our guys played tonight. Win, lose or draw they came with it," said Vandeweghe, who saw his team give up a six-point fourth quarter lead to a pair of 3-pointers by Stephen Jackson, 61 seconds apart, Thurs only respond with a 9-0 run in a span of 1:07. "What we've tried to achieve is the guys getting back to enjoying playing basketball."

There was no way they could not have enjoyed this night, Which ended amid a Standing Ovation from a crowd of 12.131 that sounded much larger. And believe it, there was relief. When their first regular season win since April 13 - also against Charlotte - was complete, Josh Boone, an inside force, appropriately uttered: "It's about time."

And for one night, the Nets, with nearly 11 whole bodies (Keyon Dooling and Tony Battie returned but Rafer Alston was a late scratch again) could not forget the horrors of all the defeats: At the IC. With: 00.1 left. With eight available bodies. This night was a new start, even if the NBA balks about an 18-game do-over.

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