Woeful Nets win bid to avoid worst NBA team label

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey - Brook Lopez scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and the New Jersey Nets moved closer to averting the worst season in NBA history with a 93-79 victory over Sacramento.


Devin Harris added 24 points and nine assists for the Nets, who improved to 8-63 and need only two triumphs in their last 11 games to avoid matching the NBA's all-time worst season, the 9-73 mark of the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers.


"It's a good feeling," center Brook Lopez said. "We've had a week of great practices. We just want to continue this momentum."


The victory came hours after the death of former Miss America Colleen Kay Hutchins, the mother of Nets interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe.


"My mother was obviously very special to all of our family and to me and to my father," Vandeweghe said. "I talked to my dad about it and he said she would have wanted me here. She knows that I love this. We love it as a family.


"What I'd like to say is -- 'Thanks Mom. We got one.'"


The Nets snapped an eight-game losing streak and a club-record 14-game home losing streak.


"It's always a nice feeling to win," Nets guard Devin Harris said. "It has been a rough year for all of us. It's a good feeling to see guys cheerful back in the locker room and excited about coming to work.


"Hopefully, we can hang onto this and carry it into the next game."


That comes Friday when he Nets play Detroit, losers of six games in a row and a lowly 23-48.


Beno Udrih scored 19 points for the Kings, who have lost eight of their past 11 games.


"It's not even really close, by miles and miles our worst game of the year in every way," Kings coach Paul Westphal said.


It's a loss that will haunt the Kings.


"You really don't want to lose to this team," Kings forward Carl Landry said. "They are facing the worst record of all-time in NBA history and this is a team you just don't want to lose to. It will be a game I will remember forever, the rest of my life. I'll try to take it and use it as motivation."