"What I focused on, not the physical side of the game, but the mental side of the game: being entrenched in the game, in tune with the game, cheering your teammates on, being engaged even from the sideline," Dooling said. "The first 18 games, we had a loser's mentality. Every time adversity would come, we'd fold."

So Dooling, who had offseason hip surgery and returned last night with Tony Battie, was determined not to let that happen. When he saw Bobcat Stephen Jackson personally wipe out a six-point Nets fourth quarter lead with a pair of 3-pointers, he jumped into the huddle and gave one message.

"'Let's dig deep," Dooling implored. "And we were able to do that."

As Devin Harris said, "We were fine after that. But last week . . ."

You would have lost?

"Oh yeah."

*

Larry Brown, who was Kiki Vandeweghe's coach at UCLA, couldn't resist needling Vandeweghe for not coaching Wednesday against Dallas.

"I think if I had a choice to coach against Dallas or the Bobcats, I'd probably do what he did," Brown said.

But Brown proclaimed his support for Vandeweghe and his selection by the Nets to be the interim coach after Lawrence Frank was fired.

"He's a pretty bright guy and he loves the game and respects the game and I think he'll do great," Brown said of Vandeweghe. "I hate to see Lawrence leave, but I remember I hated when Byron left. It's just part of our profession. But for their sake, I hope things straighten out. They've got good young players. They're going in the right direction. I see a good future here. I think Kiki will do a great job." . . . The Nets formally named Del Harris an assistant coach.