EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- After the Los Angeles Lakers popped the bubbly on another world championship -- and Mark Madsen gets ready to do his three-peat two-step -- let's turn our attention one last time to the New Jersey Nets.

	Jason Kidd's Nets have a reason to hold their heads high. Or do they?

Remember them? The guys Shaquille O'Neal has been using as a trampoline underneath the basket the past week?

How will we look back on the 2001-02 Nets? Hmmm. Will we remember them for their 180 from 26 wins in '01 to 52 in '02? Or will we remember them for these four losses in the NBA Finals?

"The writers would love that, right? A team that has a miraculous year goes to the NBA Finals and gets swept," Kerry Kittles responded. "You guys would love a big story (like that) ... But if it happens, it happens."

With that fourth nail hammered into their casket, the Nets took their place in the NBA playoff record book on the Finals results page as "Loser (Coach)." The coach, Byron Scott, didn't think losing 4-0, 4-1 or 4-2 tainted what his club achieved in the truest Miracle of the Meadowlands since Herman Edwards' fumble return.

"We've accomplished a lot this season," Scott said. "This team has been fantastic from Game 1."

He meant Game 1 of the regular season, of course. Way back on Oct. 30, the Nets had more questions than answers. The unknown included Jason Kidd's transition to New Jersey, the team's new Princeton passing offense, Kittles' knee problems, Kenyon Martin's recovery from a broken right leg, Todd MacCulloch's first foray as a starting center, etc.

Then, after a 7-1 start progressed into a 19-10 season mark after December -- and an 11-4 January put them at 16 games over .500 -- the team had to re-think its initial goals for 2001-02. The Nets apparently were capable of more than just making the playoffs.

Turns out, the Nets were capable of winning the Atlantic Division, earning the Eastern Conference's top seed, dodging Reggie Miller's latest playoff gun slinging, sending the Hornets on their way to New Orleans and proving to Paul Pierce that he in fact can be defended.

	“	I don't think that anybody's embarrassed. I feel that we're a great basketball team. We've come a long way. ”
		— Keith Van Horn

Still, even with that impressive résumé, people will likely walk down memory lane recalling these Nets as the punch line to the Lakers' last laugh of the 2001-02 season.

"I don't think that anybody's embarrassed," Keith Van Horn said. "I feel that we're a great basketball team. We've come a long way.

"There's going to come a point where there are some experiences we need to go through as a team, as a young team. I know that going through that first game (against the Lakers) as an individual and as a team, we had to go through that. We had to understand what it felt like to go out there in the NBA Finals. So much has been thrown at us so quickly that, for the most part, I felt we've done a good job of dealing with it."

Lucky for the Nets, losers quickly fade from the sporting public's collective memory. Who did Maryland beat for the national championship? (Indiana.) Who did Ray Bourque beat to finally win a Stanley Cup? (New Jersey Devils.)

When looking back on this glorious Season That They Outshined the Knicks, the Nets would prefer we implement selective memory. Remember the good. Forget what happened against the big, bad Lakers.

"Last impressions stick with me, but we've had a great year," Aaron Williams said. "That (getting swept) won't be all what we're remembered by."

Joe Lago is the NBA editor for ESPN.com.