Vince Carter spoiled a good story and the Magic spoiled the Nets' home opener.

It wasn't Carter's fault. He was having a brilliant game in his Meadowlands return, probably on his way to a 30-point night unless the Magic blew out the Nets. But Carter stepped on former teammate Devin Harris' foot with about three minutes left in the second quarter and exited the game with a sprained ankle.

The Magic were fine, though, as you would expect the defending Eastern Conference champions to be against the still-growing Nets. New Jersey played hard and hung around, but they didn't have anyone who could match Dwight Howard and their execution paled in comparison to Orlando's.

No surprises there, and thus no real surprise in the Nets' 95-85 loss. If anything was surprising, it was how close the Nets kept it, considering that the Magic have been destroying everyone in the preseason and in their first regular season game. But that's a credit to how hard the Nets played and how much you could tell they wanted this game.

"We defended the three well, which was a big goal," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "We took care of the ball. But Howard had such a profound impact on that game defensively, where not only did he impact our bigs but on all our penetration you obviously saw what he did."

Howard was a monster. He finished with 20 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks. He only missed three shots and if not for misfiring on seven free throws would have better numbers, and this game would have been out of reach.

You could tell the Nets aren't where they need to be on both ends of the floor, but the Magic cause matchup problems for everybody because they run screen-rolls with Howard and they put shooters all over the floor. So if you double him, he can kick it out to J.J. Redick, Matt Barnes or former Net Ryan Anderson.

On the offensive end, the Nets missed 50 of their 81 shots. Some of that is due to Howard's length and the way he affects shots. But the Nets also missed open jumpers. Their starting backcourt of Harris and Courtney Lee combined to shoot 12-for-35.

Before the game, Carter talked about how much he enjoyed playing for the Nets and how he regrets that he didn't get their young team to the playoffs last season.  He even spent time in his old locker room.

The Nets traded Carter and Anderson to the Magic on Draft Day for Lee, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie. Nets fans didn't have to wait long to show their appreciation for 4 ½ years of mostly spectacular play.

They gave Carter a warm ovation, and then on the first play of the game Carter drove and threw down a resounding dunk over Brook Lopez that elicited a familiar response of "OH!" from the fans. They probably wanted to see more, but it wasn't meant to be.

Carter was on fire before he suffered his injury. He was 6-for-8 with 16 points in just 14:43 and left with about three minutes left in the second. He said he's fine and would play in Orlando's next game at Toronto -- Carter's other ex-team.

"I heal like a young guy, so I'll be good tomorrow," he said. "I'm just going to be smart about it. It's a long season."

Without Carter, the Magic were fine. The same can't be said about the Nets.

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