--G Vince Carter said he was intent on getting the Nets off to a strong start against the Bulls in an effort to break the Nets out of their home-court funk Monday. "I just tried to set the tone and just get some easy baskets, get us going, get us feeling good about ourselves. It looked promising," said Carter, who had 10 points in the first quarter and finished with 31 -- not enough to prevent the Nets from falling to 5-12 at home in a 100-87 loss.

--C Josh Boone, who started the first seven games of the season, injured his ankle and lost his starting job, said he is finally feeling comfortable in his support role. "It took a little while to get used to not being in the game at the start," said Boone. "You can get a little cold from warm-ups and you have to kind of re-warm yourself up." Boone is averaging 7.0 points and 4.2 rebounds in his last five games.

--G Devin Harris can be a good barometer of Nets success with certain individual stats. But two key stats failed Monday. Harris did his part, but the Nets didn't do theirs collectively. Harris scored 26 points. When he gets 25 the Nets usually win. Instead, they fell to 10-2. Plus, he shot 14 free throws. When he gets 10 it's usually positive for the Nets. But instead, they dropped to 8-3 on Harris' double-digit free-throw night.

MEDICAL WATCH:

--G Keyon Dooling was a late scratch Monday against the Bulls because of a sore right hip. He is day-to-day.