--G Vince Carter lives along the water in Weehawken, NJ. So on Thursday, he was stunned when he saw a plane land in the Hudson River. Carter saw the miraculous landing of US Airways flight 1549 that came down in the river after a flock of gulls jammed the engines.

"I was just sitting there, looking out the window," Carter said. "I was just sitting in the bedroom. I thought it was watching TV. It landed like it was a movie. It hit like nose first, and you could (hear) the impact. I couldn't believe it."

--The Nets had joked much of the season about their defense. But they made some legitimate advances and had moved from the bottom of the league to a 22nd ranking. They were improving.

But then they set themselves back a mile on Wednesday and Thursday. In Boston Wednesday, they surrendered 118 points while Boston shot 56 percent. Then on Thursday at home, they could not get stops when they needed them in the fourth quarter. Portland shot 68 percent and riddled the Nets' defense in a 105-99 triumph.

"It goes up and down, just like jump shots go in and out for us," said Devin Harris. "We've made some positive strides and we do it in stretches but to consistently do it is something we have to learn to do."

QUOTE TO NOTE
"Obviously, they're a good offensive team but we couldn't stop them. We tried to switch it up at the end but for everything we threw at them, their counters worked." -- G Keyon Dooling, on the Nets' inability to stop Portland in the fourth quarter Thursday.

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