A most-learned poet once lamented, “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these:
. . . I’m a Nets fan.”
Or was it “. . . I’m a Knicks fan” instead?
Actually, it was “it might have been.” And when the Nets, at a gruesome 0-12, face the almost-as-awful 2-9 Knicks in the Meadowlands today, they get a glimpse of what could have been, because All-Star Devin Harris (groin strain) returns from a 10-game absence. He’ll help, but the Nets know Harris’ return is just one step toward avoiding ruination.
“We have to have very, very modest expectations. We’re going to build him up bit-by-bit, and it’s going to take time,” coach Lawrence Frank said. “I fully expect it will take a couple weeks for him to get back into the rhythm.”
Given what the Nets have endured, a few weeks more they can handle.
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“It’s been tough. I’m proud of the way guys have been playing. Having eight guys, they run out of gas in the fourth quarter. Just a few plays away from winning a few games, it’s been tough to watch,” said Harris, who will come off the bench as Frank figures out minutes as he goes along. “I’ll be aggressive as I can, but I don’t want to disrupt the guys we’ve been going with. I look forward to playing and seeing what I can change.”
What no one can change, at least not quickly, is the combined Metropolitan Misery of the Nets and Knicks.
Asked if he sympathized with what the Knicks are going through, Harris simply stared.
“We don’t care what the Knicks are going through,” Harris said. “Yes, we can actually [sympathize], but they’re two games better than we are.”
So the resistible force faces the moveable object. The Nets are 29th in scoring (84.4) and the Knicks are 29th in points allowed (109.5). That race for fourth place in the Atlantic should be downright riveting, although Allen Iverson won’t be involved, as the Knicks formally passed on The Waived Answer.
Both teams await summer free agency with big bucks. Until then, the goal is developing young players.
For the Nets, it has also been about healing young players. In five of their last six games, they had eight available players. Harris gives them nine. The next one back should be Courtney Lee, also down with a groin strain. He could be back next week. But not today, as hoped.
For today, the focus is on the Battle of the Bads, despite Frank seeing the Knicks as a cross between the Celtics, Lakers and Bulls dynasties.
“The Knicks have so many talented pieces,” Frank said, clicking off, basically, the Knicks roster. “They can play different combinations, different lineups. . . . And the way they play, they’re never out of it. They’ve had at least eight games where they’ve been down by 15 or more points, and they’ve come back in many of those games. They have a lot of good parts, and when they’re making shots, they’re a very, very formidable opponent.”
fred.kerber@nypost.com