The Nets aren't the only team in the NBA that's been banged up or missing several key guys. But they're the only ones who haven't won.

Their opponent tomorrow, the Magic, hasn't had All-Star Rashard Lewis due to league suspension. Vince Carter has missed four-and-a-half games after spraining his ankle against the Nets, and Ryan Anderson has sat three games with an ankle injury.

Those are two starters, two of the top three options and a key contributor off the bench when everyone is healthy. But the Magic still have enough to win with, especially since Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson have been healthy. Not surprisingly, they're 6-3.

Even if the Nets were at full strength, they probably would struggle. They could have eight players again tomorrow. Chris Douglas-Roberts returned today from

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Nets probably will wake up this morning hearing Sonny and Cher singing, "I got you, babe," on their clock radios because if ever there was Groundhog Day, this was it.

Wednesday night, the Nets were down three in the closing seconds to Philadelphia and didn't get a shot off and lost 82-79. Five nights ago in Philadelphia, the Nets were down three in the final seconds and didn't get a shot off.

The turnover last night happened with 3.9 seconds left. The turnover Friday happened with three-tenths of a second remaining.

It would have been freaky if it was the same Net committing the turnover and same Sixer causing it and the same final score. You can't have everything, and apparently at this point the Nets can't have anything.

Eight games in, they're 0-8, and

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Here is the first win.

Tomorrow night at the Izod Center, with people lined up to get in, the bathroom, the Nets will get their first win and beat the unimpressive Sixers. Even though the Nets practiced with eight guys yesterday, and seven guys today, and probably will only have eight for tomorrow's game, this is their chance to get that win.

A loss tomorrow and the Nets likely will drop to 0-10 -- they're at Orlando and Miami this weekend -- before next week's favorable schedule featuring games against Indiana, Milwaukee and the Knicks.

During the previous two games, the Nets battled and played with the attitude that they're tired of losing. They just didn't make enough plays to pull out the wins against the Sixers and Celtics.

After three days of no games,

PHILADELPHIA -- The Nets are going to break through one of these games. You just don't know what week or month it will be or who will be the one leading them to victory.

They are so banged up by the time this game ended they had eight players in uniform and seven guys unable to go. And had they pulled off the stunning upset, one Trenton Hassell would have been carried off on his teammates' shoulders.

Coach Lawrence Frank went on and on about Hassell's professionalism after his terrific game and deservedly so. Hassell went from playing just one game this season -- a total of eight minutes -- to starting and playing 46 minutes and nearly leading the depleted Nets to the unexpected victory.

But Hassell's all-out effort and those of all the Nets who played wound up being wasted. They fell,

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Nets joked last season that they would try to do things differently after halftime. Maybe petition the league to try and do pregame introductions again or play the National Anthem so they would start the second half the way they do their games.

A new year and nothing has changed.

They aren't joking yet, but it may be coming because five games into the season, it's clear the Nets don't play the same way in the second half as the first half.

There was another example of that Wednesday night when the Denver Nuggets steamrolled the Nets 122-94 behind a third-quarter scoring onslaught that had those behind the computers scrambling to find the last time New Jersey gave up that many points.

The number was 44. Forty-four! And the answer is they have given up more.

CHARLOTTE - A confusing, confounding game was followed by some confusing words.

The Nets just lost 79-68 to the Charlotte Bobcats in one of the worst-played games I have ever witnessed - it was 14-10 after one - but there were few signs of disgust afterward from outside or inside the visitor's locker room.

Naturally, Chris Douglas-Roberts was frustrated. He's never happy when he loses. And Rafer Alston said the third period was "embarrassing," and seemed to say there were some players going for theirs when they should have been playing team ball.

But they also talked about how good the Nets were for two quarters-plus. Coach Lawrence Frank said a couple of times the Nets did "some good things" and a couple of people "did some good things."

We understand Frank didn't want to pile on his

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The fans who came to the arena on Halloween night were given Gilbert Arenas masks. The Nets probably wished they were guarding the imposter. They couldn't stop the real Agent Zero or anyone on the Wizards for that matter.

The Nets came as a team that believed they could play defense, but the trick was on them and their coach. The Wizards and the fans got the treat, a laugher in their home opener, filled with layups, dunks, threes, and a halfcourt bucket by Arenas to beat the first-quarter buzzer.

Yes, Arenas was back and so were the Nets' lackluster defensive ways. The result was a 123-104 Washington win that dropped the Nets to 0-3 on the season.

If you haven't already, it's fair to start wondering when the Nets are going to get their first win, especially with the

Vince Carter spoiled a good story and the Magic spoiled the Nets' home opener.

It wasn't Carter's fault. He was having a brilliant game in his Meadowlands return, probably on his way to a 30-point night unless the Magic blew out the Nets. But Carter stepped on former teammate Devin Harris' foot with about three minutes left in the second quarter and exited the game with a sprained ankle.

The Magic were fine, though, as you would expect the defending Eastern Conference champions to be against the still-growing Nets. New Jersey played hard and hung around, but they didn't have anyone who could match Dwight Howard and their execution paled in comparison to Orlando's.

No surprises there, and thus no real surprise in the Nets' 95-85 loss. If anything was surprising, it was how close the Nets