This was the kind of game, and it ended the type of homestand, that teams could look back at as the season winds down and point to as the reason they missed the playoffs.

The Nets may be pointing at Tuesday night, and the past five days, as the reason they own the worst record in NBA history. They still need six more wins to avoid that humiliation.

Win No. 5 on the season was staring right at them, if only. That really is the story of the Nets season, if only.

If only they were healthy for the start of the season, if only they had better players, if only their coach called plays that lead to wins.

The latest disappointment was a 97-93 loss to the Pistons in a game where the Nets were the better team for most of the night.

This is the third straight game the Nets had matched the other team or outplayed them and third consecutive time they walked away shaking their heads.

“We let it get away late,” Jarvis Hayes said.

“We just have to close out the game a lot better than we’ve been doing,” Devin Harris said.

This is what it comes down to at this point: The Nets seem to have figured out how to compete for 48 minutes; now they have to learn how to execute late and close out teams.

Each of the three losses on this homestand -- by a grand total of 10 points -- were different yet similar. In the end, it was late-game execution.

The Nets led by four as the clock was about to strike two minutes remaining, but three straight misses, giving up a defensive rebound, an alley-oop dunk on an out-of-bounds play led to them losing the lead and the game.

It’s late-game executions that the Nets have to learn now, which is step up from where they were a couple of weeks ago when late in games their faces were covered in towels and they were wondering where they were going to after the other team finished bludgeoning them.

The late-game execution is something the Nets must learn as a team and something Kiki Vandeweghe is still learning as a coach.

“It’s all of us together,” Vandeweghe said. “We all have to learn that. It’s execution. It’s making sure that we have everything set the right way. It’s closing out games. It’s chasing down loose balls.

“I thought we played very hard tonight. I thought we worked for 48, though we had a couple lapses.”

For the second straight game, Vandeweghe may have had a lapse with the winnable game in the balance. With the Nets down two and Richard Hamilton at the line with 17.7 seconds left, Nets’ players were expecting to call timeout.

But after Hamilton missed the second, Vandeweghe wanted the Nets to try and run a play before the defense was set.

In fairness, if Harris hits the shot, it’s a great play and a great decision, although it leaves about 10 seconds of clock for the Pistons to win. But Harris’ shot from deep beyond the arc hit nothing.

Players admitted there was confusion on that play. But again, if they make the shot it’s a great play and a great call.

It didn’t work out. Just like it didn’t work out last game when Hayes missed a three that would have tied the Sixers in the closing seconds on a play Vandeweghe wished he had back.

The amazing thing is the Nets started this home stand with three wins and they had a chance to match that total or surpass it on this homestand, if only.

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Despite his critical air ball, Harris played a great game in his return from a wrist sprain. He had 24 points and a season-high 14 assists coming back from a four-game absence.

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The Nets lost assistant coach Del Harris, who left the team for personal reasons after the game. He’s returning home to Dallas.

Harris, 72, joined the Nets to help Vandeweghe after he replaced Lawrence Frank. Now assistant John Loyer will assume Harris’ role as lead assistant.

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