Rod Thorn had a serious look on his face as he made his way to the podium Tuesday and Kiki Vandeweghe was smiling. One man probably was hiding his real emotions, and it wasn’t the Nets president.

Vandeweghe is a pleasant man. He smiles often. So maybe he was in a good mood and just generally happy. But he really didn’t want to be the Nets head coach. He needed Thorn to convince him and the inclusion of NBA lifer and former co-worker Del Harris before Vandeweghe agreed to replace Lawrence Frank.

“Let me just say, Rod is a very persuasive guy,” Vandeweghe said Tuesday morning.

Maybe Vandeweghe was smiling because he doesn’t have to take part in the Nets’ potential -- and probable -- record-setting performance Wednesday night. If they lose to the Mavericks,

Anyone hoping for the same type of reaction from the Nets after their last coaching change had to be disappointed last night. But there are some major differences.

When Byron Scott was fired in 2004, the players wanted him out. They had stopped playing for him. They knew they were good and could turn it on at any moment, and that’s what Jason Kidd and company did for Lawrence Frank, reeling off 13 consecutive wins after he took over.

After Frank was ousted yesterday, the Nets had to play the reigning champion Lakers in their building at the end of a long, dreary trip. They didn’t have a day or so to catch their breaths. And there are no Hall of Famers on this team, no one to lead them the way Kidd did. At this point, the Nets would be happy to win 13 games this season.

For

The Nets have had many regrettable days, forgettable moments and embarrassing times in their star-crossed history. You can add the events of Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009 to their annals.

Early in the day, the Nets made hard-working head coach Lawrence Frank the fall guy for their struggles this injury-plagued season. Then the Nets were absolutely throttled by the Lakers as they trailed by 34 points and matched the 1988-89 Heat and 1998-99 Clippers for the worst start in NBA history by dropping to 0-17.

The Nets have seen worse days -– like when they traded Julius Erving and lost Drazen Petrovic to a fatal car wreck. But this day, culminating with a 106-87 defeat at Staples Center in longtime assistant Tom Barrise’s head coaching debut, has to rank high on the list of all-encompassing

The only carryover the Nets had from Tuesday night’s loss in Denver was making sure they didn’t play that way a second straight night.

They took care of the ball. They didn’t allow all those layups and dunks and actually committed some fouls to avoid easy scores inside against Portland.

More purposeful performances like this and the Nets may actually win a game. But for now they’re still searching for that first victory, still keeping alive the possibility of breaking the NBA’s record for most losses to start a season.

Their 15th straight defeat, 93-83 to Portland, should at least give the Nets a little hope. If the Nets play this way Friday at Sacramento, and get a little more from Devin Harris and Courtney Lee, the streak could end there.

If not,

This type of performance won’t help their embattled coach.

The Nets played sloppily, were careless with the ball and had no interior presence. They were thoroughly outplayed and out-talented by the Nuggets and fell, 101-87, in the opener of their Thanksgiving Week trip.

That makes it 14 in a row for the Nets to start this brutal season. Just six other teams have lost that many to open a campaign and now the Nets need three more to tie the all-time mark for the worst start in NBA history. This trip has three more games and that might be all Lawrence Frank has, too.

It’s no surprise the Nuggets won. They now have won 16 straight at home dating back to last season and they were playing the Nets after all. But how easily they won is what’s disconcerting and puts more heat

Thirteen games, 13 losses. Here are 13 reasons the Nets are in the position they are:

1. Bruce Ratner: Nice man, but his interests were in real estate opportunities and buildings, not building a championship team. He bought a contender and kept cutting payroll instead of letting Rod Thorn add quality pieces that could Nets over the top.

2. 2001 Draft-day Deal: This might be nitpicking because the Nets got Richard Jefferson and Jason Collins for Eddie Griffin, but the other player they chose from that trade was Brandon Armstrong when Gilbert Arenas was available.

3. Kidd’s input: The Nets always tried to make Jason Kidd happy, which isn’t a bad thing, but let management and coaches make the decisions. They traded Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch for Dikembe Mutombo,

Devin Harris was back bouncing around, getting into the lane, crossing over, freezing defenders, setting up teammates and even threw down a driving dunk for good measure.

The groin that kept him out 10 games was fine. His legs were a little tired, but they should come around.

The Nets' first win –- that’s still on hold.

Harris’ impressive return wasn’t enough to end the Nets’ 12-game season-opening losing streak. It became an unlucky 13 after a 98-91 loss to the almost equally lowly Knicks today, another game that was winnable for the Nets.

You at least see how the offense can be different with Harris, how they can get easier baskets. He wore down a little, but his 12 points and seven assists in 26 minutes helped put the Nets in position to snap the skid.

Lawrence Frank spent most of pregame talking about how encouraged he was with everything he was seeing from his depleted team. Less than two hours later, Frank probably wished he could close his eyes or at least cover them.

The team that fought Miami to the final seconds before losing on a Dwyane Wade three with one-tenth of a second left on Saturday wasn’t the same one that played the Pacers last night.

These Nets battled but after it was too late and dropped to 0-11 after a 91-83 loss to the Indiana Pacers that wasn’t as close as the score would seem.

It wasn’t a lack of effort. The Nets played hard. We’ve seen many games where they fall behind early and never come back.

The Nets came back, despite having just eight guys. But they can’t afford to fall

MIAMI -- You could feel the Nets' pain after this crushing defeat. They'll get over it before the fans do, but you know this one hurt.

It hurt more than the three-point loss in Philadelphia when the Nets didn't get a last shot off. And more than the three-point loss at home against Philadelphia when the Nets didn't get a last shot off.

They probably hoped the same fate that had befallen them would do in the Heat. But the Nets have neither that luck nor someone by the name of Dwyane Wade on their team.

Wade almost didn't get a shot off as he fumbled the ball, but he picked it up and shot and made a 26-foot three from the right wing with one-tenth of a second left that handed the Nets an absolutely suffocating 81-80 defeat last night.

Chris Douglas-Roberts, who was under the basket and