Avery Johnson may not have been the Nets’ first choice, but might turn out to be the best choice for what they need after one of the worst seasons in NBA history.

Injuries and bad breaks led to 18 consecutive losses to start the season. A lack of coaching, leadership and accountability was why they won just 12 of their remaining 64 games after they were mostly healthy.

They lost all those things when Lawrence Frank was fired, but now have it again in Johnson, the Nets new head coach and first of the Mikhail Prokhorov era.

As a player, there was no questioning Johnson’s leadership and desire. He bounced around for most of his 16 NBA seasons, but spent a good chunk in San Antonio where he played with David Robinson and Tim Duncan and helped the Spurs to the 1999 NBA championship.

NEW YORK – Mikhail Prokhorov said all the right things today, everything Nets fans wanted to hear, even some who are unhappy that his purchase of the team solidified the eventual move to Brooklyn.

Prokhorov was entertaining at his introductory brunch and press conference as the Nets' new owner. He displayed a strong sense of humor, but also exuded confidence about turning the Nets into the envy of the league. Jason Kidd would have loved playing for this guy.

Prokhorov is convinced he can put together a sales pitch to lure the top free agents to the Nets. He’s also convinced the Nets will raise the championship trophy at the earliest in Newark within the next two years and at the latest in Brooklyn within five years.

He also hinted that the most vilified Net last

The Nets endured their worst season in franchise history so there was a shortage of memorable moments. Most of them were of the negative variety.

The Nets had an NBA-record 0-18 start, a coaching change and had four different people assume the head coaching duties for at least one game. A non-head coach did it for 63 games.

They had Tweets that upset team officials, an assistant coach leave because he said he was promised he would eventually be the head coach and players fighting to keep their sanity.

There was the first known professional athlete with the H1N1 virus, the fan-friendly CEO having a heated exchange with a fan wearing a paper bag over his head – in a team supplied free seat across from the Nets’ bench, no less – and the team closing out its time in the

The Nets’ best game of the year came in the next-to-last game they will play at their home of 29 seasons. It's doubtful they will be able to top it in Monday’s Izod Center finale.

But it was riveting how the Nets played at the end after giving up a 12-point fourth-quarter lead with 7:40 left and 10-point cushion with 4:43 remaining in regulation.

None of that mattered after the Nets pulled out the 127-116 double-overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls, a game that featured some huge performances.

The biggest was by Terrence Williams. The rookie had his first career triple-double, finishing with 27 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. The final assist came with 17.6 seconds left in the second OT.

Brook Lopez, whose dunk gave Williams the triple-double, was clutch. He dunked

The developmental year, as it had been called over and over by general manager/interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe, is seven games from being over and some development is needed still.

Some players did better than expected and others showed signs of improvement but then faded. In a lost season like this, all the players should have improved or least gotten the chance.

But this was a bizarre year in so many ways, and there were times young players weren’t getting the shot they should have. It was one of the many mistakes of this season.

Showed Improvement

Courtney Lee: Quietly, the second-year guard has had a solid season with his defense and shot-making ability. He can’t replace Vince Carter, but Lee’s work ethic and continually-improving play is a reason for optimism for

Devin Harris said no one was jumping through the roof because the Nets won 10 games. But had they not won their ninth or tenth there would have been guys feeling as low as the ground.

Maybe even lower.

Fortunately for the Nets’ players they don’t have to feel this and they can move on with their lives. They deserve that.

Overall, the players have been professional and handled this difficult situation as well as they possibly could, if not better.

If the Nets wouldn’t have won three of their last four games to avoid infamy it would have been partially the players’ faults, of course. But they also have been the recipients of some bad luck and some bad situations. Leave it to former Net Richard Jefferson to be the voice of reason.

“I think it’s been

Most teams’ goals are to make the playoffs, win their division and play for the championship. The Nets have had to alter theirs, but they’re closer to achieving their three priorities than most teams.

The Nets wanted to have a winning streak before the season ended, record victory No. 9 and of course No. 10.

Two down, one to go –- and the third could happen Saturday in Chicago. Could.

A rousing second-half performance, led by Brook Lopez and Yi Jianlian, carried the Nets back from 13 down and lifted them to their second consecutive victory. They beat the Pistons, 118-110, Friday night for win No. 9.

“How about that?” Keyon Dooling said. “We go on our first win streak of the season.”

“We feel we can get more games,” Devin Harris

Fourteen games remain and all the Nets want is three more wins, but more than that is at stake for this team and several guys on it.

The focus should be on getting the wins, but also making sure the players under contract for next season get as much time together as possible, play together and enjoy playing together.

The buzz word when interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe took over was “fun.” Everyone needed to have fun and that lasted for about three games – the Nets won two of the first three under Vandeweghe. But with five wins in the 47 games since there aren’t many guys having much fun.

Here's what's fun: Winning.

A few days have passed since Wednesday’s loss to Philadelphia, but that was a low locker room and understandably so.

The Sixers are terrible,

PHILADELPHIA – This could have been the play-in game for the NCAA Tournament or an early NIT game minus the fanfare and, well, fans. But that should have been expected for two teams a combined 74 games under .500.

It wound up being like a 2-15 or 3-14 matchup because the Nets never were really in this game after the first quarter and there was no reason for that.

Both teams are terrible. But the Nets were that much worse, falling 108-97 in a game that showed the record for worst season ever is in jeopardy.

The Sixers are not a good team, at all, and they were without Thaddeus Young and Marreese Speights. Yet they blew out the Nets, leading by as many as 22.

The Nets didn’t have Devin Harris or Yi Jianlian, but that’s no excuse. Just like Tuesday night against the Hawks,