EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—This was the Nets team everyone expected: feisty, fast and about a year away from anything of note.

For a half against the Lakers on Saturday, Devin Harris looked like an All-Star, Brook Lopez played strong in the post, and Chris Douglas-Roberts scored in bunches. They ran early and often, scoring 12 fast-break points in the second and 16 in the half. But the Nets couldn't keep Kobe Bryant quiet in the third quarter, when he scored 13 of his 29 points and the Lakers opened a 10-point lead they never gave back. By the final buzzer, the defending champions exited the IZOD Center with a 103-84 victory.

"What I asked the guys to do is come with effort, and they did tonight," said head coach Kiki Vandeweghe. "You're playing arguably the best team in basketball right now and you're leading at halftime, you're competing, you're getting all the open looks you want. It wasn't for lack of effort. It was for lack of making wide-open shots and layups. With that, you realize that can get better. We’ll work on that."

They'll have a few days to do it, with a three-day layoff before the next game, a Wednesday matchup with the Timberwolves (Buy Tickets). That could work to their advantage, as the Nets seem to have escaped a scare with five minutes to play, when Douglas-Roberts drove the middle and rolled his right ankle, the side of his shoe laying flat against the hardwood.

The second-year swingman, who had just returned from a knee injury, hit the deck immediately, rolling over and slamming the floor several times with the palm of his hand in frustration. After a long stay on the floor, Douglas-Roberts was helped off to go for X-rays, which came back negative. The Lakers selected Sean Williams to shoot the free-throws, and he missed both.

Postgame, Douglas-Roberts emerged from the shower limping noticeably, but apparently able to put some weight on the ankle. He said that it's Grade 1 – the lowest/least damaging – and knows it's not a high ankle sprain; both are encouraging signs. The plan is to rest until Wednesday.

"It's not my knee," Douglas-Roberts said. "That's all I was worried about. It's not my knee and ankle sprains are pretty much nothing to me."

The Nets entered halftime leading by two, 48-46, after a 27-17 showing in the second. Harris exploded for 17 points in the quarter, 14 of them coming in the final six minutes. He dropped in transition floaters, switched hands in mid-air for layups, tossed an alley-oop to Douglas-Roberts and capped it all with 25 seconds remaining, hitting the step-back jumper that's betrayed him since returning from a groin strain 16 games ago.

For 12 minutes, Harris was the best player on the floor, reminding everyone that there was a reason the Jason Kidd trade had been viewed as a steal. But at halftime, the Lakers changed up the defense to front the Nets' bigs, allowing them to prevent Harris' easy forays to the basket. He scored only four points after that, all on free throws. Missing the only two field goals he attempted in the second half, Harris finished the game with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

"I think it's mainly that we're pulling the ball out of the hoop," Vandeweghe said. "He's one of the best open-court guards we have in the game today, but we have to get in the open court. When you're constantly taking the ball out of the hoop at the other end it becomes more difficult, and of course the defenses are keying on him and Brook. We haven't had our shooters available so the court becomes tight for Devin."

The latter statement could be addressed by Wednesday's game, as both Yi Jianlian and Jarvis Hayes are expected to practice Monday and Tuesday. Each shoots well enough to draw defensive attention, opening up lanes for Harris and Douglas-Roberts and freeing Courtney Lee for the kind of one- or two-dribble pullups that he specializes in.

But even without the reinforcements, Harris ran several effective pick-and-rolls with Lopez, who tallied 18 points and 11 rebounds to register his 16th double-double and seventh in the last eight games. He played well against a tough set of Laker bigs, facing traps against 7-footers Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, D.J. Mbenga and the 6-foot-10 Lamar Odom.

"They're all talented, big guys – Very talented," Lopez said. "So it’s difficult. They've got different games. Pau's more finesse. Bynum likes to get into you, run the floor. You can go down the list. They've got a lot of talented bigs. So it’s a great challenge for me and I get excited when I get to face variety like that."

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