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The Nets can go a few ways after Friday night's loss and pointing to the fact that they played the Celtics to a near standstill for three-plus quarters as a reason for optimism could be dangerous.

The Nets can’t let up Saturday night in Detroit.

The Celtics weren’t sharp on either end, didn’t have Paul Pierce, and other than the profanities he shouted and some menacing glares didn’t have Kevin Garnett at his best. Yet they were good enough to pull out a 96-87 win.

The Nets played well; no question about it. It was their sixth straight game where the outcome was in the balance in the fourth quarter.

It appears they’re turning the corner and just need to learn how to play 48 minutes, close out games before their hard work turns into something. They need to continue to play with hunger.

But there have been a few occasions this season, when the 4-45 Nets played an elite team tough, that it appeared they were close to enjoying success and all they felt was disappointing.

Think back to a close game against Boston on Nov. 7 when the Nets were just 0-7. The next game, the Nets were outplayed late by the Sixers and lost.

After coming from an embarrassing effort in Toronto six weeks later to battle the Lakers for a little more than a half, the Nets felt so much better about themselves. They sleepwalked through the next game and lost to Minnesota.

Then there was the close game at Cleveland that resulted in a blowout loss to the Jazz the next night. Another close loss to the Cavaliers in the first game after the calendar turned to 2010 preceded a blowout loss to the Bucks in New Jersey.

In these cases, the Nets lifted their games to the level of the good teams -- who to a certain extent found it difficult to get up for playing New Jersey. And then let up in the next game, often against teams that will be in the Lottery.

So, here we are again.

Tonight in Detroit, the night after the Nets put a legitimate scare into the Celtics and their fans. The Pistons are no longer the Pistons. Detroit basketball doesn’t have the same meaning or carry the same weight.

The Pistons had an awful night, losing by 24 at Indiana. That score, the fact the Nets played Boston in Boston tough and that they almost beat -- and should have beaten -- the Pistons in Meadowlands on Tuesday has to be irrelevant.

It has to be about tonight and tonight only. It doesn’t matter what happened last night or last week. History has proven that and especially with the Nets.

“I thought we played very hard,” coach Kiki Vandeweghe said after the Celtics' loss. “It was the effort level that I liked. The effort was there. That was very important to me.”

It should be important to the Nets tonight when they play in the Palace of Auburn Hills.

They’re playing better and they should feel good about that. But they have to keep working hard to go forward. This team can’t afford to go backward again.

Al Iannazzone covers the Nets for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.).