"Terrence Williams stood in front of Madison Square Garden yesterday, waiting to take the first train ride of his life, from Penn Station to Newark. Going underground on the escalator, Williams left the shadow of the famous arena behind as he boarded the train -- something he's hoping the Nets also will do this season.

"Our owner [Mikhail Prokhorov] said he's gonna make Knicks fans become Nets fans, so I'm riding with him until the wheels fall off," Williams said. "I kind of see us being in the shadow because they're more established, but the way we're going and how we're playing, as far as getting better and the coach we got, we'll be out of that shadow.

"And then someone else may be in our shadow when we get to Brooklyn."

But until the Barclays Center is built, the Nets will spend the next two seasons in the Prudential Center, where they play their first home preseason game tonight against the Celtics. Williams, who posted 20 points and eight assists in Tuesday's win over the 76ers, may be looking at increased minutes again because of point guard Devin Harris' sore right foot, which kept him out of Tuesday's game and yesterday's practice.

"I feel good, just more precaution than anything else," said Harris, who is a game-time decision. "I probably [could have practiced]. We definitely want to nip it now as opposed to playing and it lingering into the regular season. If it takes a couple days now, then that's what we'll do. We'll test it at shootaround, and hopefully it'll be OK.""