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The game is played and for the most part won by the players, but this was a night when Nets coach Avery Johnson’s presence was felt.

About 90 minutes before tipoff, the man nicknamed “The Little General,” announced that Terrence Williams wouldn’t be active for two games “for repeatedly violating team policy.” Then once the game started you could see Johnson’s words and actions got to Brook Lopez and Devin Harris.

The two captains, challenged publicly during last week’s 1-3 West Coast trip and privately the last few days, answered their coach’s call and guided the Nets to a 107-101 overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks last night at the Prudential Center.

Lopez, who took plenty of criticism for his play out West, for not finishing

DENVER -- Carmelo Anthony had nothing but nice things to say about the Nets, their ownership, their organization and their future the last few days. But he did nothing but bad things to them on the court Saturday night.

That, in a nutshell, is the reason the Nets want Anthony in their uniform. They want someone who can make plays down the stretch of games. This four-game West Coast trip proved the Nets don’t have that kind of player consistently.

Anthony scored a game-high 28 points, including the Nuggets’ last six, and was the defender on the key stop that sent the Nets home with a tough 107-103 loss.

It was tough because the Nuggets seemed to be on the verge of taking control of this game on at least four different occasions. But the Nets kept fighting. Not to show Anthony

The Nets’ long road trip ends Saturday in Denver against someone they would love to add to their roster.

Anyone who says it’s just another game against Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets isn’t being completely honest.

Just like Anthony’s game against the Knicks Monday wasn’t just another game. Just like when Jason Kidd played against Dallas less than a week before he was traded to the Mavericks wasn’t just another game.

The lasting memories of that game were Kidd was in a great mood beforehand – maybe he knew something – Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and then-Nets GM Kiki Vandeweghe had a lengthy conversation under the basket in full view of the media.

Sure other things came up like health, welfare and their families, but Kidd was discussed

The Nets looked like they were about to be run out of Energy Solutions Arena several times last night, but they kept coming back at the Jazz.

That’s the best you can say about the Nets last night. They didn’t come all the way back, couldn’t re-take the lead, but they wouldn’t go away.

If they hit a couple of shots down the stretch they might have put more pressure on the Jazz, might have won the game. But they couldn’t score or take care of the ball when it mattered and dropped a 98-88 decision to the Jazz.

As hard as the Nets played, there are going to be nights when shots just don’t fall. Some were good shots, some wide-open shots. But the Nets should have attacked more and not rely on their outside shooting.

“We couldn’t drop it in

Avery Johnson did what no other Nets coach could over a stretch of about 660 days: guide the Nets to a road win against a Western Conference team. The two most impressive factors were that it happened in Johnson’s first West Coast road game as the Nets coach, and that the Nets won with Devin Harris in the locker room for the last thirty minutes and change.

Harris is fine physically, but he was ejected for pulling down Blake Griffin by his neck. But the Nets responded without Harris and beat the Clippers, 110-96, last night to jump start the four-game trip.

“Our team responded well,” Johnson said. “The guys gutted it out.”

The Nets are now 4-6 with four of the losses coming against Orlando and Miami, and three by a total of five points.

Let’s

The Nets always go West in November, but there are some major differences about this week’s trip than some of the past ones.

First, they’re not going during Thanksgiving Week for the first time in seemingly forever, which is because they’re no longer in Izod Center.

The second is they’re leaving on a high, despite Saturday’s last-second one-point loss to the Magic. The Nets feel like they’re improving.

“Tough loss last night but I really feel like we are getting better,” shooting guard Anthony Morrow tweeted before the Nets flew to Los Angeles for tomorrow’s game with the Clippers.

The Nets would have felt much better had the left on a two-game winning streak, but their attitude was similar to two Novembers ago, when they left for

NEWARK –- The Nets weren’t as dejected as you might expect after their seemingly gut-wrenching 91-90 loss to the Magic last night.

The likely reasons are:

* Orlando is an Eastern Conference title contender and the Nets took them to the wire.
* They lost on a tough, fadeaway shot by Jameer Nelson with 4.1 seconds left.
* Brook Lopez re-appeared and did it against the Magic and Dwight Howard, who often make him disappear. Lopez outscored Howard 23-16.
* Devin Harris has looked like an All-Star the last two games.
* The Nets feel like they’re getting closer.

“This is a tough loss for us, though the guys should have their heads up,” coach Avery Johnson said. “We know coming in second is not a consolation prize or anything we want to look forward to, but the

Kris Humphries was the standout player in the Nets’ win over the Cavaliers Wednesday because of his yeoman-like 13-point, 18-rebound effort. But what may have been most significant was Devin Harris’ play.

You can’t expect Humphries to put up those numbers every night, but Harris is capable of taking control of the game, leading the team and playing the way he did to lead the Nets to the victory. His defense against the Cavaliers can’t be discounted either.

The Nets are going to need more performances like that from Harris, starting Saturday night against the Magic.

Harris’ line against Cleveland was 31 points, 14 free throws attempted and nine assists. It was similar to the Harris of two years ago when he was an All-Star as voted by the coaches but overlooked

CLEVELAND – The way the Nets beat Cleveland Wednesday night was how they envisioned winning games only with Brook Lopez playing the role of Kris Humphries.

The Nets got an All-Star type of performance from Devin Harris, who played as if he wasn’t going to let them lose. They got hot shooting from Anthony Morrow and big plays from backup guard Jordan Farmar.

Derrick Favors made an impact with his rebounding and defense. And the Nets got dominant play inside in the form of a 13-point, 18-rebound, two-block performance, but it wasn’t from Lopez.

It was Humphries, who played just seven minutes two games ago and eight minutes Tuesday, who was on the court for 40 minutes and helped lead the Nets to a much-needed 95-87 victory over the Cavaliers to snap a five-game losing