The Nets finally had their enough-is-enough moment and they think it could be the start of something.

Time will tell about that, but for 48 minutes last night, the Nets looked like an NBA team. It’s been a long time since they have.

They showed heart and played with pride, passion and purpose. They played defense, withstood runs, hit shots and showed some mental and physical toughness.

The Nets finally put all of that together and the result was a 103-87 victory over the Clippers that not only ended an 11-game losing streak but also gave them their first victory of 2010.

“We just made sure that every play, we compete,” Chris Douglas-Roberts said. “When we compete, this is the NBA, any team can beat any team. But we competed the whole game and I think that was

The Nets are doing something never thought possible when they were 0-18. They’re getting worse.

They’re much healthier than they were when they were losing every night earlier this season and they’re worse now. That’s not an easy thing to do.

They returned early this morning from the West Coast just totally beaten, believing there is no hope in sight and honestly there is no reason for hope. You know the numbers: 40 losses in 43 games. Even more distressing is how far they have fallen, how much they have regressed not only since Dec. 30, but since Lawrence Frank was replaced after 16 games.

But here's looking at a small sample of games before we go big picture. Over the four-game trip, the Nets allowed the opposition to shoot 55.4 percent and average 112.8 points

A two-day Christmas break looked like it was going to do the Nets some good. They played with passion and energy and seemed committed to breaking though and ending their second-longest losing streak of the season.

But on the court you make your own breaks.

It didn’t matter how hard they worked because the undersized Rockets know something about working for a win. They’ve done it all season in the deep West and did it to the Nets Saturday night, losers of a 98-93 nailbiter, their ninth in a row.

It wasn’t the Nets’ ninth nailbiter in a row, but their ninth loss. The first seven were lopsided for the most part, but the last two have come down to the wire. The 2-28 Nets just haven’t been able to make the key stop or hit the key shot that gets them over the

The Nets had one of their longer practices since the new regime took over. Kiki Vandeweghe said it was his first real practice with the Nets.

You certainly could look at it that way, since he had just about everyone take part except for Chris Douglas-Roberts, whose sprained right ankle kept him hobbled, and Eduardo Najera. Yi Jianlian was out there and Jarvis Hayes, too.

Slowly but surely, it seems the Nets are getting their regular players back. You can’t be entirely sure because it seems every time someone is about to return, someone else gets hurt.

But barring more setbacks or injuries, you’re looking at the possibility -– possibility -– that the Nets will have 15 players available for Saturday’s game against the Rockets or maybe Dec. 28 against Oklahoma