Over the last three games, things have not been pretty for the Nets, as the defense, bench and even Vince Carter have been inconsistent at best.

Just when you thought they were due, against a team that has had struggles as well this season in the Toronto Raptors, the Nets continue to leave the rest of the NBA up in the air when it comes to understanding what this team is capable of this season.

Even in winning, this team is still in a funny place if you ask me.

After the first few minutes, it looked like the Nets were dead in the water. They had no passion, no intensity and no energy. The Raptors were passing, shooting and running all over them. Guys like Brook Lopez and Yi Jianlian especially looked flat and Carter and Devin Harris looked like they weren’t going to be on their usually 20-point pace.

Then something happened.

The way the Nets bench is structured, anyone and everyone can come up big on any given night. At the same time, we’ve already seen at times that they can all come up flat at once as well.

Tonight, without Jarvis Hayes, the Nets got a good defensive effort from Josh Boone, who had a pair of steals in the first that played a key role in the team’s turnaround in the first. Working his way up the depth chart after coming back from an injury, this was exactly the type of game he needed to have early on.

The same thing goes for Ryan Anderson, who scored eight points in his first ten games and got the Nets back in the game. Sure, he cooled off as the game went on, but off the bench, he did exactly what they team needed him to do.

The same thing goes for Trenton Hassell, who proved he could hit a jump shot and rebound on multiple occasions.

The Nets did make some key mistakes though, things like taking shots with no one under to get the offensive board, but a key three-pointer from Yi and a pretty dunk by Lopez got New Jersey within four with just three minutes left in the half. Then, they even found a way to get it tied and it was obvious they were beginning to get Chris Bosh and the Raptors pissed off.

Not too bad considering how they started.

But 25 points from the bench will do that sort of thing.

The third quarter was a sluggish one, but in spite of guys like Yi looking completely out of place, Bobby Simmons and Harris were starting to make themselves useful and because of that, the Nets got their first lead of the night.

Jason Kapono and Jose Calderon can shoot though, can’t they? The Nets too didn’t help matters either, as they couldn’t rebound on either end through the second half of the third quarter. With the bench playing as well as they did, it all went to waste in a matter of minutes.

Harris showed some light in the fourth, going on an 8-0 run by himself and playing pinball with the big boys of the Raptors; that’s when the Nets decided to take the game back. Taking over, Harris scored 15 points after a horrible start, the Nets played the kind of fourth quarter they had to and came out victorious because of it.

Then it was obvious who the better team was, as the Nets began to rebound on both ends and take advantage of second chance opportunities in addition to playing more than solid defense.

Now if they can only do that for 48 minutes, then they’d be cooking, eh?