National Basketball Association

At last, Nets end worst start in NBA history

Published Dec. 5, 2009 5:56 a.m. ET

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Players hugged at center court. Fans stood and cheered as music blared through the arena.

Finally, the New Jersey Nets got to experience that winning feeling again.

The Nets won for the first time this season, ending the worst start in NBA history at 18 losses by beating the Charlotte Bobcats 97-91 on Friday night.

Brook Lopez had 31 points and 14 rebounds, and Courtney Lee scored a career-high 27 points in his return to the starting lineup for the Nets in their first game under Kiki Vandeweghe, their general manager who will coach the rest of the season.

"For me, I was happy for the players," Vandeweghe said. "This has been a bit of a struggle. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It was tough, tough on everybody."

Vandeweghe stood and clapped in front of the bench as the Nets, who set the record for worst start with their loss to Dallas on Wednesday night, won for the first time since April 13, when they also beat the Bobcats.

Lee made the tiebreaking free throws with 2:22 left, dunked after a steal 15 seconds later, and New Jersey put it away when Devin Harris made three from the line with 1:26 remaining for a 93-86 lead.

"It feels good. We brought great energy," Harris said. "We didn't play great all time, but we fought."

New Jersey trailed by as much as eight points in the third quarter before controlling the fourth to end any fears of flirting with the NBA's longest single-season losing streak of 23 games, held by the Vancouver Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets.