"Face it, the Nets just aren't the same team on the road. So after celebrating their first victory of the season, they became a case of one and done through a fourth-quarter collapse yesterday at the Garden.

For a while, though, the Nets looked as if they might carry over the heady momentum gained from the victory that stopped their historic season-opening losing streak at 18 games Friday in the Meadowlands.

By halftime, they had 61 points. They ran into a Knicks zone but still were in position to make it two straight. They trailed, 93-90, after Courtney Lee drove for his second and last basket of the game, with 7:39 left.

Then the Nets of 0-18 surfaced. They committed five turnovers, missed 6 of 8 shots and gave up two killer offensive rebounds to the Knicks, one unconscionably on a free throw.

"We've got to make winning plays. To win in this league, you must make winning plays," said Keyon Dooling, part of a triple point-guard offense (with Devin Harris and Rafer Alston) the Nets used for stretches

"Get loose balls, no extra possessions, somebody's open, get them the ball. It's the little things.""