NBA

Nets blow 23-point lead but beat Wizards

The optimist will say that no matter how bad the situation is, it could always be worse. And late in the first half last night when the Nets held their biggest lead of the season, 23 points, they simply looked at the other bench, that of the Washington Wizards, to prove that.

The problem was toward the end of the game, the Wizards came pretty close to doing the same and saying the same about the Nets.

“For us, the game comes in cycles and we had a pretty high cycle early in the game and then we had a really down cycle there in the third and fourth quarter,” said coach Avery Johnson after the Nets’ 97-89 victory over the Wizards in Newark.

Yup, the high cycle saw that 23-point lead. The low cycle saw the Wizards tie it in the fourth, with several chances to go ahead.

But the Nets prevailed, largely because Devin Harris, who called a team meeting after the previous loss, triggered matters on both ends. He engineered just enough offense and started a key defensive stretch by taking a charge and the Nets put an end to their eight-game losing streak.

“It’s not the way we drew it up. It’s not the way we want to win, but at this point, we have to scratch, claw and get them however we can,” said Harris, who scored 29 points, shot 7-for-25 from the floor but was 14-for-17 at the line with nine assists.

The Wizards, taking advantage of Brook Lopez’s foul trouble (he played one minute in the third quarter), entered the fourth down seven. Behind Nick Young (22 points) and Gilbert Arenas (19), they eventually tied, 75-75. And they were within a point when Arenas was headed out on a fast break.

Enter Harris. He took the offensive charge at 2:14. He then fed Lopez (18 points) the other way and the Nets had a little breathing room. Until Arenas struck again. So back came the defense.

“We locked down,” said Lopez. “We knew we didn’t want to give this one away. No chance we were giving this one away. We just couldn’t.”

They didn’t. Harris made two free throws at 1:36 and the lead was 90-87. Kris Humphries (12 points, 17 rebounds) then arose. He altered one shot. He blocked Hilton Armstrong. He altered another. The Nets began a parade at the free-throw line and hung on.

“Devin picked up a charge on Arenas . . . a huge play,” Humphries said. “And from that, we just feed off that. I saw Brook need a little help on Hilton when he turned to lay it up, so I got a piece on that block. We didn’t play perfect. We choked up a lead, but at the end of the day it’s a win.”

Which are sort of hard to come by in New Jersey. But this one pushed the Nets (7-19) out of the Eastern cellar ahead of Washington (6-18). And while they hit 97 points — an avalanche for them — they did it with defense at the end.

“We got the stops. Big charge that I took. Humphries had a big block, altered a couple shots and we rebounded the ball late,” Harris said.

The Nets had 11 available bodies, so everybody — even Troy Murphy — on hand played. The Nets were forced to make newly acquired Sasha Vujocic inactive because Terrence Williams’ physical results were not available when inactives were named one hour before tip-off.

The banged-up Wizards were hardly at full strength, minus John Wall (knee tendinitis), Nets-killer Andray Blatche (sore knee), Josh Howard (torn ACL) and Yi Jianlian (knee sprain). Late in the first half, with the Nets comfortably ahead, Arenas and Trevor Booker tried to hook up. Arenas left his feet, passed. And nailed Booker in the back of the head.

The Wizards, though, would not roll over. But neither would the Nets.

fred.kerber@nypost.com