DALLAS –- As the final seconds of the game wound down, the two point guards who were traded for each other were on the bench, and the point guard-turned-coach was experiencing another loss.

This probably is not how the two Nets wanted it in their Dallas returns. Jason Kidd likely didn’t mind since his team won again, flattening his old one, 102-89. But this is the reality for Avery Johnson. He is the coach of one of the NBA’s worst teams, and without Devin Harris, he’s not going to win many games. Johnson hasn’t won many anyway.

Harris got injured early, spraining his shoulder in the first quarter of the 13-point setback to the Mavericks. It's possible that, if Harris were healthy, the Nets may have won the game.

“You never know,” Johnson was saying after the Nets lost in the building where he won many games. “You never know.”

But it’s pretty safe to say the Nets wouldn’t have won even with Harris, not the way they played defense, not the way they were shooting the ball, and not with the amount of talent on the other side.

With the score lopsided for most of the night and J.J. Barea and Jason Terry doing a good job running the offense, there was little need for Kidd to return. Besides, the Mavericks are limiting his minutes because they want him ready for big games and especially the playoffs.

The Mavericks are 18-4 and could very well wind up with as many wins as the Nets have losses. Actually, the Nets may have more losses. They are struggling with six straight defeats and are 4-17 since opening the season with back-to-back wins.

Johnson and others keep talking about how much fight the Nets show, and in some cases it’s true. But it’s the lack of fight and urgency they show or their poor execution against the teams they have a chance of beating that has put them in this hole.

The Nets were down by 21 in the second half and playing without Harris. The game was over. But the Nets, with the Mavericks' help, wouldn’t let it be. They forged all the way back in the third to cut it to five.

The game never really was in doubt for Dallas. Five became 10 and after the Nets cut it to eight, it went to 16. You need to make more stops if you want to come all the way back. But the better thing would be not to fall behind that big.

But the Nets always choose to look at the positives. Johnson always tries to point out what this young team is doing well. As hard as you work, and the Nets are working hard, there has to be some positive results or eventually the fight may be lost.

It’s too early for the Nets to stop fighting, and it’s doubtful Johnson would let them. But they have to find a way, against good and bad teams, not to go through stretches where they can’t do anything on either end. You certainly can’t do it against the Celtics or Mavericks -– two of the Nets’ last three assailants –- and with the Lakers up next, something has to change, or that game could be over relatively quickly also.

Harris said he expects to return for that game. The Nets need him to have any chance against the Lakers.

Johnson shook up the lineup for this one. He started rookie Damion James at small forward for Travis Outlaw. The move didn’t pay instant dividends. They each scored four points, and James didn’t provide the energy boost or defense Johnson was talking about when he gave his reason for making the change.

But James wasn’t going to be the difference maker. The Nets really don’t have one. For them to win, they need everyone to play well, to defend, to take care of the ball and to make plays down the stretch.

But the last three games they haven’t needed those plays down the stretch. They lost by 25 against Boston, 15 at Atlanta after allowing the Hawks to shoot 13-for-16 in the fourth, and were down double-figures the last 7:31 of this game.

“They’re tough,” Johnson said. “Just when you think you got them, Dirk hits a big shot. Just a veteran team, know what to do.”

Johnson’s old team is the opposite of his new one. They’re young and still learning what to do. We get that they are fighting and battling, but eventually they’re going to have to do some winning.

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Derrick Favors missed his first NBA game due to a right thigh bruise.

Terrence Williams had six points, four assists and three turnovers in his first game back since the Nets recalled him from the D-League.

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Coach’s corner

“I know Devin really wanted to come back and play well, but we just have to find a way. He took a hard fall. That’s just a hard fall. It’s not like he tweaked something. That is a hard fall. We have to hope and pray that he stays healthy because his health means a lot to our basketball team.”

- Johnson on the loss of Harris

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Follow me on Twitter: @Al_Iannazzone

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