YES Network.com

Vince Carter had to be helped off the floor after spraining his right ankle the first time the Nets faced the Celtics and watched from home probably with his foot propped up the second time they met.

The Nets didn't put up much of a fight after Carter left the first game and next-to-none without him in the second. Tomorrow night, the Nets and Celtics meet for a third time this season and Carter could be the difference, if he can stay on the floor and regain his solid play from last week.

During this stretch of eight wins in 10 games, Carter has been a major player, as you would expect. He's made the right play, whether it's passing it inside to Josh Boone or Sean Williams for a layup or dunk, or hitting the big shot as he did against the Heat, Warriors and Hawks, to name a few.

But the past two games, Carter is averaging 17.5 points and has looked like the Carter that started the season - a little tentative, forcing shots, not being as aggressive. The Nets were blasted in the first game at Charlotte and won with relative ease over the Sonics last night because of the games Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson had.

The Nets can win without Carter playing at his best, but not against a team like the Celtics, who are 29-4, coming off a loss and have yet to drop two games in a row.

Everyone knows Kidd is going to show up. He's been the Nets' leader in every sense of the word over these 10 games, and Jefferson has been a consistent force all season. The Nets probably don't beat the Celtics right now without a big game from Carter, especially since it appears Ray Allen is playing despite a pinched nerve in his neck.

Look at what the Nets did against the Celtics the first two games: they lost by 11 in the game he couldn't finish and by 22 in the game he didn't play.

The Nets need Carter to be the Carter he was in the eight games prior to the last two, the one that averaged 24.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists and made winning plays.

They need young guys Josh Boone and Sean Williams to match the energy you know Kevin Garnett will bring. The Nets also need to be competitive from the start, but more than that - they have to stay competitive.

The Celtics aren't a team that gives up many double-digit leads. When they jump on you, they pounce.

They rank first in the NBA in average margin of victory, winning by 12.2 points per game. The Nets have been down double-digits in 24 games and have dropped 16 of them, two to Boston.

In the first two games, the Nets led for most of the first half and then were steamrolled after halftime. Last time, it was a 55-35 Boston second half.

"Obviously these guys have played unbelievably well and beaten us pretty handily the two times we played them," Nets' president Rod Thorn said. They've played lights out all year and have won some huge games on the road.

"They're the best team in the league right now and we're going to have to play very, very well in order to compete and have a chance to do well."

It's only Game 36, so neither the Celtics nor the Nets will hoist a trophy when the game ends at about 10 p.m. And that's the attitude, at least outwardly, that the Nets are taking into this game.

After they beat the Sonics last night, Nets' players and coach Lawrence Frank said the Celtics are just the next team on the schedule. They are, but they're so much more than that.

The Bobcats made their season by going into Boston and beating the Celtics last night. It won't make the Nets' season if they win because they still have hopes to go deep in the playoffs. But it would say something about the direction they're headed.

The Nets would be two games over .500 for the first time since Nov. 10 - after their first loss to Boston. They would have a season-high four-game winning streak and would have handed the Celtics their first two-game losing streak of the season.

There are things at stake here tomorrow night. It's more than just another regular-season game. It's a chance for the Nets to show something after playing competitively for about 40 of the 96 minutes they've faced each other.

"I think when you play a team that has that kind of record I think you're automatically up," Thorn said. "We have to play well. If we want to be competitive we have to play well."

It's not all on Carter. The Nets have to play a solid game all around, but Carter's absences were factors the first two times they met. His presence needs to be one now.