NBA

Nets’ Humphries hustles for 21-rebound game

A shooter gets on a roll and he feels like he can’t miss. Put hands in his face, nail his feet to the floor, super-glue his eyelids shut and the shots still will go up.

Kris Humphries says it can feel that way sometimes for rebounders, too. Stand him in quicksand, make him wear cast iron-shorts, but with position and effort, the rebound will be his.

Humphries had that feeling yesterday. And he got the game ball for it after snaring 21 rebounds for the Nets in their 82-74 win over the Magic.

“Some games, you get great position and the ball doesn’t bounce your way. Other games, the ball is just hitting you in the hands a lot, so you’ve just got to work for it,” said Humphries, who enjoyed his fourth career 20-rebound game in his second double-double of the season (14 points). “Sometimes, it comes your way more.”

Like 21 times. And five of those were of the offensive variety, which matched Orlando’s entire starting unit.

“I had to work early, and then a bunch came my way,” Humphries said. “It really helps when you can get five or more offensive rebounds. It gives us another possession to get momentum.”

With Humphries’ work, the Nets held a monster 55-41 edge on the glass.

“Humphries did a good job of really dominating the glass,” coach Avery Johnson said. “He got the game ball with the way he battled on the boards.”

And for scoring and for defending.

“He can change a game without scoring a single point — just his energy, rebounding the ball, defensively, setting screens stuff like that,” center Brook Lopez said. “He can completely change the game.”

Humphries, a power forward who re-signed over the summer for two years at $24 million, had 28 rebounds in his first four games combined. He landed in that neighborhood in just four quarters yesterday. Like the Nets, he’s getting there.

“We’re not where we want to be, we’re a work in progress,” he said. “I think everyone expected us to jump out of the gate and win 10 games in a row and be this unbelievable team, but the reality is it’s the NBA and we have a lot of new players not familiar with the system.”