The last couple of weeks of this season have felt a little like last year. The Nets have been decimated by injuries and have lost 14 of 16 games heading into Wednesday's finale against the Bulls.

But this season has been different. The Nets have doubled their win total (24) and are in a better place than at this point last season.

First of all, the team didn’t have a clean-up day last year. The players left Miami after the finale and went their separate ways after one of the most dysfunctional and frustrating seasons in NBA history. Many of them didn’t fly back to New Jersey. They couldn’t wait to get rid of last season.

This season, everyone is flying back from Chicago, doing their exit interviews Thursday with general manager Billy King and coach Avery Johnson, and

After all that has happened with murals and billboards, television commercials and pointed comments, it is fitting that it comes down to the Nets and the Knicks for Carmelo Anthony.

As I heard Evan Roberts say on WFAN this morning, it’s Jay-Z and JD (James Dolan). It’s more than that, though.

It’s Mikhail Prokhorov, Jay-Z, Billy King and Brett Yormark versus Dolan. (Advantage Nets)

It’s Newark/Brooklyn versus New York City (Advantage Knicks)

It’s Brook Lopez versus Amar’e Stoudemire (Advantage Knicks)

It’s a more controlled offense and a commitment to defense versus a free-wheeling, fast-paced, score-at-will offense and defend every few possessions. (Advantage Knicks)

When you lay it out like that, it seems the Knicks will win the Anthony

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

Well, at least Brook Lopez and Devin Harris should be flattered that LeBron James thinks they belong in the NBA. But it certainly sounded as if James doesn’t think the Nets should be.

It’s probably too late for Jay-Z to get back his Christmas gift and card.

What James said last night to reporters in Phoenix isn’t wrong necessarily. There are too many NBA teams, and plenty of them aren’t good.

The league is watered down and some teams have too many stars – ahem, like the Heat - that make them powerhouses and others just fighting to stay afloat. Some probably should be contracted. But it was surprising that he singled out the Nets – and Timberwolves – when he was asked about the possibility of the league downsizing.

"Just imagine if you could

The Nets shot for the moon and hoped to land some of the biggest stars in free agency. But they came crashing down to earth with nothing to show for their lofty ambitions, bravado and bluster.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov and part-owner Jay-Z were supposed to be two of the biggest names in this chase, but their money, power and global vision couldn’t match what Micky Arison, Pat Riley and the Miami Heat were offering.

LeBron James, Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade chose to be teammates in Miami. The long-rumored possibility became official when James made his announcement on Thursday night.

As South Beach gets even hotter, the Nets feel a chill. It’s downright freezing in Cleveland and Toronto, though. Those two cities lost their franchise’s best players. The Nets

LeBron James wants to see the Nets first. That has to mean something.

No one is saying the Nets are the frontrunners to sign James in free agency. For the longest time, most NBA experts dismissed the Nets. Only recently have you started hearing they are ahead of the Knicks and in the race. Our feeling is the Nets do have a shot at the biggest fish in the free-agent pond.

James may decide to go somewhere else like Miami or Chicago. He could stay in  Cleveland. A plausible scenario would be for James to re-sign for three years in Cleveland and then join the Nets when they’re in Brooklyn.

But the Nets shouldn’t be discounted now just because they were 12-70 or are playing in Newark for a few years or are about to lose invaluable and largely irreplaceable team president