NBA

Nets’ Humphries getting comfortable

ATLANTA — In case you didn’t notice — like if you were encased in ice for a year — Kris Humphries’ name was in the papers a lot over the summer.

Now, his name is popping up again, but for something different with the NBA back in business. Humphries has returned to doing what he does best, rebounding and playing basketball.

One of the best stories of the embryonic Nets’ season is Humphries, who is among the league leaders in rebounding (11.7) and field goal percentage (.571) after his second double-double of the season last night when he had 13 rebounds and 10 points while shooting 4-of-8 in the Nets’ 105-98 loss to the Hawks.

“I haven’t looked at numbers because the only thing that matters is wins and losses,” said Humphries, who has heard boos in all opposing arenas. “The way I judge myself is how we’ve played as a team. I don’t mind the booing. Going back to high school you heard it, guys get that attention in college. It’s motivation. Again, I like a hostile environment.”

And Humphries, like it or not, had to go through a lot in the summer with his marriage and divorce filings with Kim Kardashian. So the boos seem harmless.

“For me, going through a tough time, the best thing for me is working on my game, playing games and being back around my teammates,” Humphries said. “It’s the NBA, but there is a sense of family.”

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MarShon Brooks, with 21 bench points and shot creation, was terrific but he did have the timeout lapse and had some defensive struggles late.

Nevertheless, coach Avery Johnson stressed the positive.

“Coach called me aside said, ‘Don’t worry about it, you played well. Don’t let the things toward the end ruin anything, you just continue to play hard,’ ” Brooks said of his postgame chat with Johnson. “I’m just going to continue to play with effort and I have a knack for scoring the ball and if I’m out there, I’ll probably put up some points, but it’s just effort from me, trying to create extra opportunities for the team.”

Brooks, who went to high school in Atlanta, needed 17 tickets to accommodate family and friends.

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Deron Williams provided the Nets fans and staff with a defibrillator moment when he rolled his left ankle in the fourth quarter and limped to the bench at 9:32. He returned 3:01 later, at 6:31.

“It’s fine,” he said.

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Everyone talks about Brooks’ confidence, which is really apparent.

“He doesn’t lack. He does not lack confidence. That’s not going to be his problem,” Williams said. “He definitely believes in himself, believes in his abilities. He feels like he can score on anybody, which he can, and definitely he’s going to earn minutes.”

And Brooks showed it when he waved off Williams and stuck a 17-foot fadeaway with 2:18 left.

“I wanted to go back to Deron initially but once I seen they tried to deny him the ball, I was just trying to make a play,” Brooks said. “All the help was right so I just had to dribble hard left and try to get around him, but Joe [Johnson] is real strong and he got in front of me so I just used my reverse pivot and spin and let it go.”

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Johnson wanted Williams to relax. He wanted his players to improve body language. He got both.

“We had a good talk before the game, and he was real comfortable,” Johnson said of Williams. “And every time I drew up a play in a timeout, he was shaking his head, like, ‘I love it, Coach.’ And he just had fun tonight. And that’s what we told our guys: ‘Go out there and have fun. Don’t put your heads down.’ ”

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One of the keys for the Nets in the first quarter and first half was Mehmet Okur. Remember, the Nets trailed by at least 20 in the first half of each of their first three games. Okur had 10 points by halftime, seven in the first quarter. He finished with 15, three more than he had in his first three games.

“I wanted to go out there and be active, be myself, start the game with a wide open 3,” he said. “And I had a layup. I gained my confidence and my team looked out there for me tonight. They kept telling me to shoot the ball and I felt a lot better tonight.”

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Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 22 points. … The Nets had their best 3-point outing of their four games, by far. They were 9-of-20, including 3-of-5 each by Okur and Anthony Morrow. … Nets had five players in double figures.

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Beforehand, Johnson provided the most simple solution to what ails the Nets: Make shots. They responded shooting 46 percent from the field, their best effor of the young season.

“You can have the Triangle offense, the Flex offense, the Zipper offense, the Double-high elbow offense, the pick-and-roll offense – you can have any type of offense, the ball’s got to go in the basket,” Johnson said. “That makes all your offenses look better. So hopefully the ball will go in for us a little bit more.”

fred.kerber@nypost.com