Least of all Lawrence Frank, who has preached hard-nosed play from Day 1. There were good signs in each of the defeats -- although no plus sign in the win column. The young Nets simply make the mistakes that are inherent with being a young team.

"We understand this is going to be a process," Frank said after the Nets lost their home opener Friday to powerful Orlando. "We had some good effort. We made some game plan mistakes defensively. Offensively there were times we could have passed the ball ahead. There were times we kind of held the ball where we could have moved it. Even though we didn't have a lot of turnovers, some of our shots or decision-making wasn't great. That's part of the process of having a young team."

And part of the process of a young team is losing, which they hope to correct against the 1-1 Wizards. The Nets have beaten the Wizards in 11 of their last 15 meetings, including five of the last six at Washington. The Wizards have a decidedly new look -- but are as usual dealing with injuries as Antawn Jamison is out for another 2-to-4 weeks with a shoulder injury. Jamison led the Wizards' scoring against the Nets last season, averaging 18.5 points.

MAGIC 95, NETS 85: Vince Carter returned Friday to the Meadowlands where he labored for nearly five seasons. After a warm welcome, Carter began killing his old team, racking up 16 points in 14 minutes. Then he sprained an ankle, left the game, and Dwight Howard took over. Howard crushed the Nets inside at both ends, clogging the middle on defense and dominating the glass in a 20-point, 22-rebound, four-block performance that dropped the Nets to 0-2, despite 18 points from Courtney Lee. Lee came from Orlando in the Carter trade.