The Nets defeated the Pistons 111-98 on Wednesday night, just hours after news broke that coach Lawrence Frank's job isn't safe heading into the offseason.

"I look at it like this," Vince Carter said. "If we can save his job by finishing out on a high note, then we have to help him and at the same time, it possibly helps us."

New Jersey president Rod Thorn said on Wednesday that he wouldn't, and couldn't, guarantee that Frank would return for the final season of his contract.

"I don't know if I'm ever surprised by things that happen in this league, but that's a surprise," Jarvis Hayes said. "So all we can do is go out and play the best we can and hopefully end on a positive note. But they have to know he's a great guy and a great coach."

Rookie Brook Lopez admitted that a coaching change would affect him more than other players.

"He's the only coach I've really known in my short career, being around here," Lopez added. "For myself, personally, it would be difficult next year to come back and have to adjust to a whole new system, a whole new coach all over again."