The Nets’ season has been like the movie Groundhog Day.

Every game seems to be similar and every day there seems to be more reports and rumors about Carmelo Anthony. If you want something to look forward to, here it is: There’s just one more game to go – on this trip and probably for some Nets, too.

That doesn’t mean the Nets won’t suffer more losses like Saturday night’s 96-89 outcome in Portland. But if the three-team trade with the Nuggets and Pistons goes through and the Nets get Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton, you have to believe they will handle themselves better in games like this one.

Of course, the Nets may need to convince Anthony to join them, but all signs point to an agreement being reached between the teams at some point

This is the way Brook Lopez should play every night. If the long-awaited trade for Carmelo Anthony gets done next week, the Nets center should have more opportunities to have games like last night.

The Nets didn’t beat the Lakers in Los Angeles -– did you expect they would? -– but at least Lopez responded after hardly playing in the fourth quarter and overtime Wednesday in Phoenix. And it was clear Lopez wasn’t happy about that.

But the third-year center, the lone player not made available in trade talks for Anthony, had 35 points, on 13-for-19 shooting, in the Nets’ 100-88 loss to Kobe Bryant and the two-time reigning champion Lakers.

Lopez still didn’t grab 10 rebounds –- he finished with six. But he played with a different attitude as he looked

The Nets tried to play a game of don’t-break-this-up last night. Even if they won, it wouldn’t have mattered - they’re not staying together.

But the way they lost was another example why Nets executives were prepared to trade more than half their roster in a deal for Carmelo Anthony. You wonder if there will come a point where they’ll be willing to give up more.

Closing time usually turns out to be losing time for the Nets and that’s what happened in Phoenix as they opened the four-game trip with a 118-109 overtime loss to the Suns.

There’s no point quantifying this one. It was just another bad loss in a season filled with bad losses for a team that’s going nowhere as is.

But this one had to hurt the Nets because they really needed this and

Billy King left his seat during the second half on Saturday night. You figure he had seen enough of the Nets on this night.

It’s surprising King – and the fans – stayed that long.

Maybe the Nets general manager had important calls to make. Maybe he was trying to get the Carmelo Anthony deal done now. The Nets are in need of a change, a major one, and have been for a while now.

Just when you thought Friday’s 20-point loss at Washington was as bad as gets, they give you a performance like this: Bucks 115, Nets 92.

The Bucks are better than the Wizards, granted. But the Bucks were without their two best players – Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings. They lost a tough overtime game against Miami on Friday, flew into New Jersey and landed around 2:30 a.m. The

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Avery Johnson had to be biting his tongue Friday night.

This was one of the Nets' worst games of the season -- think about that statement for a moment. They were out of it against the Wizards right away and were trounced, 97-77.

This is the same Wizards team that the Nets held a 23-point lead against last month, which represented their biggest cushion of the season. The Wizards that enjoyed a laugher this time, though.  They built a 20-point lead in the first quarter and led by as many as 25 in the fourth.

You could say this was a complete game for Washington. After all, they completely destroyed the Nets and made them look terrible.

Johnson probably had some choice words for the Nets privately at halftime and after the game. But in front of cameras, tape

You may have gotten a glimpse of the future last night. Key words being may have.

Derrick Favors was given his first NBA start in the Nets' win over the Bulls. It wasn’t just a one-time thing. But it may not be permanent because the Nets are still involved in trade talks for Carmelo Anthony and Favors remains a central piece of the discussions.

A source recently said there has been “movement” on the Anthony talks. The Nets believe they’re in good shape to get him, but so do several other teams.

Still, the Nets have the most to offer by themselves. They're trying to deal straight up with Denver, but could involve other teams because of their contract situation, flexibility and assets. Either way, they may need to do more, to acquire better players

The two categories the Nets lead the league in are waiting and hoping.

Every team goes through that. But waiting and hoping are all the Nets seem to do these days, which has to be gut-wrenching for their fans.

All season the Nets have been waiting for many things, hoping for many things and in some cases it could all be in vain.

Here are four things just off the top of our heads: the Carmelo Anthony situation to be resolved; Brook Lopez to develop into an All-Star caliber center and go-to guy; Devin Harris to return to being the player he was when he first got to the Nets and Derrick Favors to show something on a consistent basis.

When you’re losing at the rate the Nets are –- five straight losses by an average of 15 points, including a humiliating 15-point drubbing

The Nets are a quarter done with their season and already have five more wins than they did at this point last season, but they are a perplexing team.

Some games, like against Atlanta and Portland, the Nets look like they can not only compete with but also beat some of the better teams in the league.

Then some others -– think Charlotte twice and Sacramento –- the Nets look like the team from last season that struggled to score, couldn’t execute on either ends in crunch time and produced many head-scratching, eye-rolling moments.

Brook Lopez is the poster boy for this dichotomy.

There are games in which Lopez looks like he can be an All-Star-type player, like the first two games of the season when he scored 25 and 29 points, respectively, or the Atlanta win in which

CHARLOTTE – Except for a stretch in the fourth quarter of a game that never should have gone to overtime, the Nets were offensively inept. In the extra session, the Nets returned to executing terribly.

They are a maddening team for their coaches and fans. They came back from 16 down in the fourth -– the Nets didn’t score more than 16 points in each of the first three quarters –- only to lose 91-84 to the Bobcats Friday night.

Nets coach Avery Johnson came out of the locker room saying to “praise the fourth-quarter comeback,” but then ripped Brook Lopez.

Some of us covering this game thought Johnson might go after everyone after this performance. But he chose to applaud the overall fight the Nets showed on a night when they couldn’t shoot straight