The Nets’ next-to-last preseason game didn’t result in a win, but it felt like one because of the play of the bench.

These games are meaningless for the standings so guys are not going to be broken up if they lose. But coach Avery Johnson was upbeat and the Nets’ locker room was filled with laughter and good feelings despite a 117-111 loss to the Knicks last night at the Garden.

The defense was pretty bad as you could imagine from allowing 117 to the Knicks and 39 to Amar’e Stoudemire, and the Nets’ offense looked a little like it did in China with a glut of turnovers, quick shots and bad shots.

But the Nets’ offense came to life in the second half, thanks to the bench, which combined for 66 points. In China, other than Terrence Williams, the Nets got little from their bench.

“It’s great to see the bench playing well,’’ said Devin Harris, who sat the final 19:56 because Jordan Farmar went off and scored 21 points in that time. “The guys came and gave us great energy that third quarter. Jordan came in and gave us a tremendous effort. Terrence Williams found himself in the second half. Damion James came in and gave us quality minutes. We had a Derrick Favors sighting.”

The Nets needed that and need that.

All of those things erased what was an awful first half showing that included the Knicks scoring 65 points and making 15-of-20 shots in the second period alone. The Nets were down 16 points with 4:28 left in the third and that’s when the bench really got cooking after Williams came in.

The Nets were hoisting and making threes – Farmar was 5-for-9. They were converting alley-oops. They were getting stops. And they led 81-80 after three.

No matter the result, you could see from Johnson’s reaction from the sidelines that he was happy with the Nets effort in the second half. They battled back and made it a game and guys fighting for minutes or a spot in the rotation were chipping in instead of relying on Brook Lopez and Harris.

Lopez had a typical game with 19 points and eight rebounds, but it was relatively quiet compared to what the subs gave the Nets.

Plus Lopez was dealing with questionable foul calls, and was hit with his first technical for reacting to a foul. That new league rule is going to take some getting used to for everyone, especially Lopez.

He doesn’t gripe much, but he makes faces, puts his arms over his head in disbelief, pouts, all those things that if he doesn’t curtail could result in Lopez picking up technicals at a Rasheed Wallace pace.

“I have to find something I can do,” Lopez said. “It’s going to be tough for me. I’ll be very poor after the season. Hopefully I’ll learn something, though.”

Just another afterthought or note considering what the Nets got from the subs.

Favors showed something in the second half after going scoreless in two games in China, playing just eight minutes in the second game and just 1:43 in the first half last night before picking up three fouls. He played 17 minutes in the second half, picked up three more fouls, but had 12 points and seven rebounds, arguably his best game of the preseason.

The most important thing was he played through his fouls, through some mistakes, through a tweaked ankle and grew a little as a player. Of course, you want to see it carry over to tonight when the Nets play their final preseason game at Boston.

“Much better second half, not only from Favors but our whole second unit,” Johnson said. “It was really good to watch those guys out there in the second half.”

 "Our starters were really lethargic but the bench came to life. They take a lot of pride in what they do."

The Nets have a bench. They’re not going to be as productive every night as this one, but they should consistently give effort like they did against the Knicks.

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The Nets picked up the fourth-year and third-year options on Brook Lopez ($3.07 mill) and Terrence Williams ($2.37 mill), respectively, today. Both are now signed through next season.

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Coach’s Corner
“It’s good to see us score. We can play all the defense in the world. We’ve got to be able to score. They got ahead of our defense tonight. A lot of good video to capture on film and evaluate, especially for our young team. We were on our heels quit a bit in the first half – foul trouble, turnovers, we gave up threes at the wrong time. But guys battled.”

- Avery Johnson on his team tonight.

Follow me on Twitter: @Al_Iannazzone

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