STANDING TALL

The rumor started early in the season and moved slowly down the East Coast. It gained momentum around the NBA until it finally hit back home in the New Jersey Nets’ locker room.

No one knew what to believe except forward Keith Van Horn and guard Stephon Marbury, the high-priced young stars of the Nets who--the story went--did not like each other.

Meanwhile, the Nets were losing as if they were the Clippers--13 defeats in their first 15 games. And with each loss, the rumor gained momentum.

Net Coach Don Casey heard it. It would have been hard for him to miss it, considering it made headlines in the New York tabloids. Casey also heard and read reports that his job was in jeopardy because of the Nets’ poor start, but he figured he wasn’t going to get fired because of a rumor. He wanted to find out himself.

“I don’t know who planted the story,” he said. “I think it came out of Boston when it was written that Van Horn [was going to be traded] for [Antoine] Walker because Keith could not stand Stephon.

“It was maybe the fifth or sixth game . . . that kind of flushed it.

“So I went to Keith and he said to me, ‘Don’t worry about that, there’s nothing there,’ and he’s usually an up-front kid. But Stephon was hurt by it. I think it kind of brought those two together as players because a lot of pressure had been put on them to score. It was like a dog and pony show.”

Casey, however, didn’t just stop at Van Horn’s locker. He also went to Marbury.

“I didn’t want to create any more friction but then the next thing I knew, we broke up into a drill one day at practice to shoot, two [players] to a basket,” Casey said. “Those two were shooting together. It didn’t become a love-fest. But it did flush out anything . . . [because] to say there was nothing there, I can’t say that because obviously there was something. We were 2-15. But it was resolved. . . . It disappeared.”

Fueling the rumor was the Nets’ terrible start, coupled with Van Horn’s poor play. Billed as an all-star forward at the start of the season, Van Horn struggled with his shot and his confidence seemed to drop with every miss.

And he was missing a lot. Although he averaged nearly 10 rebounds a game and nearly 17 points over the first few weeks of the season, he was ripped publicly for making only 37% of his shots. It wasn’t uncommon for his weak shooting to be pointed out after every loss.

Worse, being a Californian--he went to Diamond Bar High--he was treated like an outsider, whereas Marbury was looked upon as the favorite son. Marbury, the point guard traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a blockbuster deal last year, is a New York City native whose family name has been linked with basketball in the area for years. Van Horn had to deal with plenty of issues.

“It was tough on Keith because early on, Stephon was calling the game mostly for him to get involved,” New Jersey assistant Eddie Jordan said. “As opposed to calling the game to get everybody else involved.”

Van Horn might have lost a little of his swagger during his early shooting slump but he never stopped believing he and the Nets would turn things around. He showed up 15-20 minutes earlier than his teammates for practices and games just to work on his jump shot. Instead of worrying about rumors, Van Horn worked on his game.

“I never lost faith,” he said. “It was just an accumulation of everything. I think no one on the team was playing well. You can have a week or two when you are not playing well--that happens to every player. But when no one else is playing well, that compounds the frustration and you try to force things.

“[The rumored animosity between] Steph and myself was completely blown up by the media, especially in [the New York] market. Steph and I had conversations and it always was about what we needed to do to start winning. There never was any dislike between us. . . . The whole team was struggling.”

And Van Horn and the Nets did break out of their funk. They bounced back to win 10 of their next 13 games and, although they have lost three in a row heading into tonight’s game against the Clippers at Staples Center, they are back in the hunt for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with a 17-26 record.

Van Horn began the season hoping to make about 50% of his shots. He has a way to go on that score, since he’s only at 41.9%, but he is averaging 18.3 points. He’s also grabbing eight rebounds a game and has scored in double digits in 39 of 41 games with 13 double-doubles--points and rebounds.

Like Marbury, Van Horn is a student of the game and is committed to winning. They just do things differently.

“Steph is a winner and he gets discouraged and disappointed when we don’t win,” Jordan said. “He spoke about guys not making shots . . . he didn’t talk just to be talking. He watches tape, he studies the league. He’s a true student of the game.

“But Keith is more of a feel player. He worked harder than anyone we had over the summer. He spent hours and hours in the gym and weight room. But he’s not up to Steph’s level as far as living and breathing basketball. Is it good or is it bad? Who’s to say? For Keith to be as well-rounded as he is, maybe that’s simply who he is.”

Marbury, who will earn $9 million this season and has five seasons left on his guaranteed $70.8-million contract, has noticed a difference in Van Horn, who will make $3.45 million this season and has six more left on his deal.

“He’s playing with a lot of confidence, he’s shooting the ball well and playing like he’s Keith Van Horn,” Marbury said.

“His shots are falling and he’s more aggressive. . . . He’s a 6-foot-10 forward who can shoot threes. That’s great in this league. He presents a lot of matchup problems.”

When Van Horn was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the second pick of the 1997 draft and then traded the same day to the Nets, his selection was met with skepticism.

After averaging 20.8 points and 8.8 rebounds and being a three-year captain for Coach Rick Majerus at Utah, Van Horn was quickly dubbed “the Great White Hope” and comparisons to Larry Bird soon followed.

“It’s because he’s white,” Bird said of Van Horn during Van Horn’s rookie season. “There’s not many of us left [in the NBA]. It’s only human nature.”

Van Horn played up to his billing, however, earning all-rookie honors after averaging 19.7 points and 6.6 rebounds. Last season, he stepped up, averaging 21.8 points and 8.5 rebounds.

His versatility is definitely a plus for the Nets, but it sometimes presents a problem for Casey. Van Horn is not quick enough to play full time on the perimeter, nor is he big enough to consistently bang inside.

But he is now a much better post player than he was as a rookie, and his ability to penetrate off the dribble makes him even more a threat.

“Sometimes we don’t know where to put him because he can do so many things,” Casey said. “We have him everywhere. We try to keep moving him around so you can’t find him.

“He has the focus and the passion for the game like [Bird] had. . . . We kind of leave him alone because he figures things out on his own. He’s very resilient.”

Getting into the playoffs is important to Van Horn. He knows the Nets dug themselves into a hole with their poor early season play but since shooting guard Kerry Kittles returned late in November, the Nets have been tough, even without veteran Jayson Williams, who is sidelined because of leg and knee injuries.

“When you’re a young team like us and you’re losing, it’s a lot like when you first get sick,” Van Horn said. “You’re going to get worse before you get better. We hit a point where we could go nowhere but up.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Net Gains

In his third NBA season, former Utah All-American Keith Van Horn is second on the Nets in scoring:

Minutes: 34.6

Points: 18.3

Field Goal percentage: .419

Three-point percentage: .359

Free-throw percentage: .851

Rebounds: 7.9

Assists: 1.7

Steals: 0.7

Blocks: 0.9