They didn't win, of course, but they played hard. Still, by dropping their 15th straight game, the Nets head to Sacramento on Friday for what may be their last chance to avoid tying the worst start in NBA history. Logic says they must avoid losing to the Kings -- that would make them 0-16, one shy of tying the record.

That dubious honor could come Sunday at the Los Angeles Lakers where, well, the odds definitely would be against them. That could tie the record at 0-17, and then the Nets would be home for the Dallas Mavericks and Jason Kidd for conceivably a date with some unsavory history.

But never-quit Frank maintains his team has fought and played as well as can be expected under the groaning weight of injuries that included four starters out at once. There have been a few "hiccups," as he calls them, but for the most part, "we competed pretty doggone hard," Frank said.

"There's no excuse. I fully expect us to get back to playing the way we've been playing and to get better."

There would be no better time or place than Friday in Sacramento.

TRAIL BLAZERS 93, NETS 83: A battle of the NBA's top-rated defensive team against the league's lowest-rated offensive team ended as expected. The Nets, one night removed from a no-show game in Denver, played hard throughout behind center Brook Lopez, who scored a career-best 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, 10 on offense. The Nets rallied from a double-digit first-half deficit and tied the game in the third quarter, but they ultimately fell in the fourth before an onslaught of four 3-point shots by the Blazers, three of them by Rudy Fernandez.